


Storybrooke High What If

by Lunaandtwilight07



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Arguing, Baby, Cute Kids, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Makeup Sex, Other, Smut, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:40:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 45,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23411797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunaandtwilight07/pseuds/Lunaandtwilight07
Summary: An accidental pregnancy leads to the most wonderful gift Robin and Regina could ever have hoped for.
Relationships: Evil Queen | Regina Mills/Robin Hood
Comments: 33
Kudos: 16





	1. Chapter 1

"How am I supposed to tell her?" Regina asked as she looked at Robin with a worried expression etched on her face, the test was clutched in her hands, two pink lines showing the positive result. "She is going to be so disappointed in me Robin," Regina whispered, "I'm supposed to be going to Harvard, what are we going to do?"

"We can manage together Regina," he shook his head, grasping her hands gently in his own, "but we have to tell them, we can't keep it a secret, you know how upset they will be if we keep it from them. I know you don't want a termination and I don't want you to have one either."

"Do you think we can be parents though? Robin, we're so young, how are we supposed to look after a baby, a little person who depends on us?"

"We'll work it out," he grinned, resting his hand on her abdomen and rubbing it gently, "this baby is part of us, and I know that I will love our child no matter what."

A small smile made its way onto Regina's face as she rested her hand on top of Robin’s. Both their parents were downstairs in the sitting room, they had decided to have a dinner party at Regina's house for both families and now they had finished eating they had moved to a comfier location.

"Do you think we should tell them all now, whilst everyone is together?"

"Yeah, I think we should," he rested his forehead against hers and took a deep breath, "wanna go get it over and done with?"

"Yes, just promise not to let go of my hand," she breathed, linking her fingers with his.

"I promise," he leant in and pressed a chaste kiss to her lips before they slowly headed downstairs. Stopping outside the sitting room they heard laughter and realised their parents were laughing at something Henry had said. Regina didn't know whose reaction she was more scared of, her mother's, her father's or Robin's parents. What if they judged them? What if they got angry?

She didn't know how they were going to react and she was terrified, almost as terrified as the moment she told Robin of her suspicions and they went to pick up a test together before taking it and finding out the result that ultimately changed the rest of their lives.

"Come on," Robin tugged her gently as he pushed the door open, watching as the four adults turned to look at them.

"I thought you were going upstairs," Cora smiled as she took a sip from the glass of red wine in her hand, Regina mused that she would probably need it for the news she was about to receive. Just like that though the happy expression on her mother's face changed as she looked them up and down, "what is it? Somethings happened."

Regina looked at the floor she didn't want to tell them, she didn't want to have to be the one who broke the news to them. "we have something we need to tell you," Robin stated, she could hear the nervousness in his voice. "Regina is pregnant."

Cora blinked in shock as she stared at the eighteen-year-olds, her brain trying to process what it was they had just told her. She couldn't really believe it and there was only one way she could think of to help with that. "I need more wine," she stated, standing from the chair and moving into the kitchen.

"I think I do as well," Caroline agreed as she stood and headed after her.

Henry and James just looked at one another before Robin's father cleared his throat, "Henry, do you want to go and look at those proposals for next week?"

"Yes, I think that sounds like a good idea," he nodded, following the other man out of the room and into the study downstairs.

Regina and Robin looked at one another in shock, "what the hell was that?" she asked, she thought that her mother would have played hell with her, thought that someone would have at least acknowledged their confession, instead they acted as though nothing was ever said.

"I have no idea."

* * *

**In the kitchen with Coraline**

"Oh my god," Cora shook her head as she took a swig from the bottle on the counter before passing it to the blonde woman who was stood beside her, allowing her to take her own long drink.

"I don't really know what to say to that?"

"I know, I can't believe it," she huffed as both women slid to sit on the tiled floor, "your son got my daughter pregnant."

"Takes two to tango," Caroline shrugged as she looked at the patterns in the marble. "I thought they knew to be safe."

"Oh god I don't even want to think about it," Cora huffed as she opened one of the cupboards and took out a bottle of vodka, "I think I need something stronger to help me process this."

"Definitely," the blonde nodded as she finished the last of the wine and they unscrewed the vodka.

**One Hour Later**

"Mom?" Regina came into the kitchen hearing giggling coming from behind the kitchen island, she'd told them hoping they would say something to help her come to terms with the news, but no, this was the response she got, adults acting like children.

"Regina!" Cora popped up from behind the counter, her dark hair messed as the other woman stood beside her, swaying just a little, "I can't believe you got pregnant," she hiccuped.

"You're drunk?"

"Only a little," Caroline laughed as she leaned against Cora, "but you can hardly tell us off about being irresponsible, young lady."

"No, you can't," Cora shook her head, "maybe this is a conversation to be, be, bees..."

"Bees?"

Cora clapped her hands together in the air and Regina furrowed her eyebrows, what the hell was going on.

"I can't see anything," Caroline shook her head as she tried watched her friend, letting out a loud bout of laughter.

Regina shook her head and left the room to find Robin, "did you talk to them? What did they say?"

"I think we're best leaving this conversation for when they are sober." She couldn't believe that this was how they were acting, she had been expecting them to be angry and confrontational, not to get blind drunk.

"Regina! I see bees!"

"Go, go," Regina shooed Robin upstairs, following behind. Her mother only usually got drunk when she needed to deal with something bad, Regina had a feeling that the next morning would be when she would see the full extent of her mother's reaction.

* * *

**The Morning After**

Cora sat at the dining room table nursing a cup of coffee for her hangover as Caroline came into the room followed by Robin and Regina. "I don't know about you, but I am not drinking like that ever again," the blonde woman sat beside her and ran a hand across her face.

"Agreed," the older brunette nodded as she looked up at her daughter. "So, you're pregnant."

"Yes," Regina whispered, taking the seat opposite them, Robin sitting next to her and taking her hand in his, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen, I must have messed up my pill cycle or something," she felt herself welling up, tears threatening to spill down her cheeks.

Robin moved his chair closer to hers and wrapped his arms around her, pressing a kiss to her temple and whispering that everything was going to be okay.

"I see," Cora sighed, sharing a look with the woman sat beside her, "so, do you know what you're going to do?"

"We want to keep the baby," Robin stated.

"Yes, we do," Regina agreed, blinking through her tears, she was scared, so scared. She just wanted her mother to support her and stand by her, she didn't know what she would do if her mother got angry at her or god forbid she disown her. Her relationship with her mother had been so good as of late and she didn't want this to come between them.

Her mother stood from the chair and moved towards her daughter, she could hardly judge her for something that had been a simple mistake, she knew better than anyone how it felt to be 18 and pregnant, but at least Regina had someone who actually wanted to stick around and be with her. Cora hadn't had anything like that, her own mother hadn't even accepted her, that was why she wasn't going to shout, even if she was felt as though this was a massive mistake. She accepted that it wasn't her decision and she would not be like her mother, she would support her daughter and make sure she knew that she was loved.

She wasn't going to make Regina feel ashamed for anything, "okay then, that's your decision," she smiled, tucking her daughter's hair gently behind her ear, "you'll be okay and we will stand by you the entire time."

That was it, the dam broke and Regina's tears were flowing freely down her cheeks as she hugged her mother tight, "I'm so scared," she cried.

"I've got you, you're alright," her mother cooed as she hugged her back.

Robin looked at the floor and swiped at his own eyes, this was his fault, he'd done this to her, she was pregnant because of him, she was scared and it was him to blame.

Caroline watched her son, she saw the look of guilt on his face and stood from her own chair, taking his hand in hers, offering him a gentle smile, "it's okay Robin, you will both be fine, I promise. It might be hard, but once that child is born I know you will both love it unconditionally."

"Regina," Robin looked at her as she pulled out of her mother's embrace and turned to him, "I know we can do this," he smiled, reaching for her and pulling her into his arms, "I love you so much."

"I love you too," she whispered. Their parents were understanding and supporting the situation and they couldn't ask for anything more. Ultimately, they had each other and they would get through it, together.

* * *

**Time to tell Zelena**

"You're what?!" Zelena gasped, staring at her sister in shock, noticing the slight baby bump underneath her blouse, "I can't believe it! Haven't you heard of contraception?!"

"Yes, I have," she sighed, her hands rubbing her stomach, "this was an accident, but I've come to terms with it now, I'm excited! I'm gonna be a mom," she grinned.

"I still can't believe you've done this Regina, you're throwing your life away! I mean come on you're still practically a kid yourself..."

"Zelena, I know this is unexpected, but this is my baby, Robin and I, we made our beautiful little one and I really would like your support," she smiled, turning to look at Al who hadn't really said anything in response. Shaking her head Regina pulled the sonogram picture from her pocket and passed it to her sister, "look."

"Oh my god, it's a baby."

"Yep," she nodded, watching as Al stood and looked at the picture.

"Congratulations!" The older brunette smiled as she wrapped her arms around her.

"Thank you," Regina hummed as she looked at her sister who was still staring at the picture in shock.

"It's so tiny."

"It's a baby Ze, they tend to be tiny," she chuckled.

The redhead joined in the hug and looked at her girlfriend, "we're going to be aunties!"


	2. Baby Names

Regina lay in bed with a hand rubbing over her stomach, she was getting bigger and bigger each day as her due date grew nearer, but she was fascinated by it and the first kick from the baby has been something she had marvelled over for days, gushing to everyone that her baby was making its presence known. She hadn't been expecting to enjoy pregnancy as much as she had done and in no way had she even considered herself to be ready to be a mother, but each and every day she grew more confident that this was the way things should be and that she was totally ready for this, she was ready to be someone's mom, she had a strong bond with her child and it hadn't even been born yet.

She and Robin had managed to move into their own place, it wasn't very big, but it was a property that her father had bought for her when she was born so that she would be able to have her own place when she was older. Their parents agreed that maybe it was time for her to be given the keys to the place for them to stay there, she and Robin had jumped at the chance and moved in pretty much straight away, it helped that the people who were renting the place before them, had moved out the month before.

It was in Maine, not Boston, but Regina had come to the decision that if she wanted to be a proper mother, Uni would have to wait, it would always be there for her, but she didn't want her attention to be taken away from her child. Robin had been totally supportive and had even offered not to go to college himself and stay at home with the baby whilst she went to college, but she decided that she wanted to be the one who did that, she wanted him to be able to achieve what he had always wanted. She was working with Caroline at the bakery, earning money to buy baby clothes, she already had a lot of savings, but gaining more couldn't hurt could it, babies were expensive.

They had put their own spin on the house and celebrated Regina's 19th birthday at the same time as the housewarming, everything was turning out to be perfect. She never thought she would be at such a young age, but she was ready to become a mother.

Robin came out of the bathroom in his boxers as he ran a hand through his hair and leant against the doorframe, looking at Regina, god she was so beautiful, she looked completely stunning pregnant with his child, she was positively glowing. Grinning he pushed off from the door and moved over to the bed, climbing in with her and pressing his lips to her temple, one of his hands finding hers on her abdomen.

"What are you thinking?" he asked, she turned and smiled, bringing one of her hands to play with the hair of his sideburns.

"I'm thinking that maybe we should discuss some names for baby," she bit down on her bottom lip, "I have a couple I would like to run by you."

"You do?"

"Hmm, what about you, have you thought about it?"

"I thought maybe Delilah?"

"As in the song?" Regina rose an eyebrow in amusement and she shook her head, "my daughter is not being named Delilah, she will end up with that song sung to her none stop."

"Well, my great grandmother was called Delilah and I thought we could bring it back," he shrugged, "okay, what about Joleen."

"You're messing with me right?"

"Okay, what about Caroline then?"

"Serious?"

"What, Caroline is sweet," he laughed shaking his head, he was definitely messing with her, there was no way they were naming their child after his mother, maybe it could be a middle name.

"Stop, be serious," she smiled curling into his side, "so for a girl what were you thinking?

"I liked Tia," he grinned.

Regina nodded, "I do really like that. I was thinking Pippa?"

"That's cute," he agreed, "for a boy?"

"Thomas, or maybe Jamie."

"I like Jamie," Robin chuckled as he ran his fingertips over her bump, stroking the tight skin that encased their unborn child.

"I also liked Roland."

Robin's eyes widened as he hugged her close, "you'd name our child after my grandfather?"

"Yes, I think he'd like it, don't you?"

"Yeah. he'd love it, and I always liked that name."

"Good, so Roland or Jamie if baby is a boy."

"Yep. Any more ideas for a girl?"

"Actually, there is one that I really love, but I don't know what you'll think," she twiddled her thumbs in her lamp, she had been going through a baby name book in the library with Tink a couple of days ago and was reminded of a name she always used for her dolls when she was younger and felt that it would be perfect, she just didn't want to suggest it only for Robin to hate it.

"Tell me."

"Heidi," she smiled, her finger gently tracing her swollen stomach. Robin didn't say anything right away and she turned to look at him, seeing the happy smile on his face, "so?"

"I think that is a beautiful name."

"Me too," Regina breathed.

"It's perfect."

"You really think so?"

"Yes, I do."

"So are we agreed that if we have a girl we call her Heidi?"

"Yeah, I love the name, nearly as much as I love you and our child."

"I love you too," she closed her eyes letting out a contented sigh, although it hadn't been her plan to be a teenage mother, she was happy and excited that her little family with Robin was soon going to be having a new addition.


	3. Birth and an Adjustment

Regina cried as Robin held her hand and their baby was placed in her arms for the first time, she almost forgot the immense pain she had been in less than a minute ago, the long and torturous labour had been completely worth it the moment her little one had been brought into the world and she heard her baby's first cry.

She looked up at Robin as he stared down at her in complete awe, squeezing her hand as they both watched their child squirm. "She's so beautiful," Robin stated, wiping his eyes with his spare hand before reaching out to touch her.

"She is," Regina sobbed as she dropped down to kiss her daughter's head, "hello, my darling, I'm your mommy," her finger brushed against the soft skin of her baby's face, she'd stopped crying as soon as she had been placed in her mother's arms, now she was simply wriggling. Regina ran a finger over the damp black hair covering her daughter's head. She was so fragile, Regina felt such a fierce need to protect her and she knew she would give anything to be able to do that.

"She's perfect," Robin kissed Regina's temple as he stared at his daughter, he was a dad, he had a daughter and she and her mother were the most perfect beings in the entire world. "You did it Gina, I knew you could."

Regina smiled up at him and laughed happily, "she is worth everything I went through, I would do it a thousand times over if it meant we could have our daughter." The little family basked in the moment, their eyes never straying from the baby, slowly her eyes began to open as she looked around, Regina gasped and glanced at Robin, "she has your eyes."

"I see that," he grinned, cupping the back of their baby's head gently.

There was a knock on the door, Regina looked over to see Cora and Caroline coming into the room, "oh my goodness!" They both came over to the bed and looked down at the baby in Regina's arms. "Regina, she is beautiful."

"I know," she beamed, "I love her so much."

"Congratulations," Caroline, smiled as she held onto Cora and they both looked at their new grandchild, "she's the perfect baby."

"Your grandmother is going to spoil you," Cora cooed as she gently touched the baby's little fingers, "yes she most certainly is."

"You are going to be spoilt rotten by the both of us young lady," the blonde added. "We'll leave you to enjoy her together, but we'll be back in a little while, I want to properly hold my granddaughter."

The tears were back again as Regina looked down at her child and reached out to Robin, she just couldn't believe they were parents and to the most beautiful child in the world. "I can't believe she's ours."

"She is," Robin smiled looking to Regina, "I love you so much, the both of you."

"We love you too," she nodded, bringing his lips to hers and kissing him gently, "thank you so much for giving me our little girl."

"I had the easy job, Regina, you're the one who brought our daughter into the world and I can never thank you enough."

* * *

**Arriving Home**

Regina hadn't taken her eyes off Heidi since they'd been home, she watched her every move, allowing her to sleep snuggled up in her arms, even when she was passed over for their friends and family to hold, she was right there with them making sure that they were holding her daughter correctly.

Now everyone had gone home and it was getting late, Regina was half laid on the couch with their little girl resting on her chest. Robin came in from clearing the kitchen and watched as her eyes struggled to keep open, he shook his head, he knew she was exhausted, she needed to sleep, she'd barely had any since their baby was born a few days prior. It was their first day home and he hoped that she would sleep better in her own bed.

Moving over to them he bent down, ruining his fingers gently through Regina's hair, "hey you."

A smile played on her lips as she fully opened her eyes to look at him, reaching out the hand that wasn't supporting Heidi to brush over his cheek, "hello."

"How about we get you into bed?" he suggested, he knew she would be more comfortable there, "maybe you could have a shower or something, or a bath even, I know you were saying you were aching."

"That sounds like heaven, but Heidi..."

"I can take her, I'll sit in the bathroom with you," he chuckled, knowing that Regina would not enjoy her soak if she couldn't see her daughter and know if she was alright.

She looked to contemplate the idea for a moment before nodding, "yes please."

"Come on then," he carefully lifted their baby into his arms, cradling her head gently, she remained asleep as her little hand reached for his shirt.

Regina slowly stood from the couch, groaning at the ache in her lower muscles, she reached for Robin's upper arm, holding onto him as they slowly moved towards the stairs, but she stopped at the bottom, he glanced to her and saw a look pass over her face, she couldn't get up them. "Wait here, I'll just put her in her crib for a moment okay?"

She nodded reluctantly, he could see that she didn't really want them to have to do that, but it was unavoidable if she wanted to get upstairs without damaging herself.

He headed up, leaving her holding to the bannister at the bottom as he moved into their bedroom and laid their daughter down in the crib, brushing his finger gently over her cheek before heading back down to Regina. "Put your arms around me," he instructed as he scooped her up bridal style, her arms wrapped around his neck as she rested her face in the crook of his neck, he felt her press a light kiss there and grinned, turning to kiss the top of her head. "Hopefully this bath will make you feel a bit better."

"I hope so," she nodded, closing her eyes as they reached the top and Robin headed to the bathroom allowing her to perch on the toilet as he ran the bath for her, "Robin, go get Heidi."

"Okay," he moved back into the bedroom and found the wicker bassinet that had been Regina's when she was a baby, it was based with blankets and Robin figured that their little girl would probably sleep more soundly in there, it would also mean that Regina would have peace of mind that she was there with them and not in the bedroom, even if they had a baby monitor, she didn't want to leave her alone.

He looked down into the crib seeing blue eyes staring back at him, curiously watching, "hello little madam," he grinned reaching down and lifting her out, "did you have a nice sleep?" He asked gently rubbing her tummy as she kicked her little legs, her tiny hands grabbing at his top. His daughter was more beautiful than anything he had ever seen, "shall we go find mommy? Hmm?"

Chuckling he picked up the grey rabbit and placed it in the bassinet, he carried it on his arm as he cradled his daughter and made his way to the bathroom, "look who's awake."

"She is? Aww, look at you my beautiful girl," Regina cooed, stroking her fingers gently through dark spiky hair on top of their daughter's head.

Heidi wasn't really a crier, she did cry sometimes, but seemingly she was more curious about things than scared. “Are you going to get in then?”

“Yes,” Regina nodded as she stood and slipped out of the slacks and baggy jumper she was wearing before testing the water with her fingertips and climbing in, wincing as she did so, but as soon as the water surrounded her she let out a contented moan, “this is nice,” she breathed, closing her eyes as she moved her hands through the water, swishing it around gently.

Robin grinned at her, almost seeing the tension slip away as she relaxed into the warmth, he carried on rocking Heidi as he sat down on the stool that was beside the tub, she was cooing in his arms as she looked around. “Do you know what else I think you need?”

“Chocolate?” she smirked, running her fingers across her skin.

“As well as chocolate?”

“What?” Regina yawned.

“A massage.”

“God yes,” she hummed, turning her head to look at him, clearly aware that Heidi was now fussing in his arms, little cries falling from her lips, “I think she’s hungry,” Regina sighed closing her eyes and moving to get out of the bath.

“Don’t get out,” he shook his head, she’d only just got in and he knew she was exhausted, “you pumped some milk earlier, I’ll go warm it…”

“That’s for if you need it in the night, I’m fine getting out…”

“Regina stay there,” he instructed before carefully undoing the poppers on the front of their daughter’s onesie and taking off her diaper.

“What are you doing?” Regina sat up, staring at him in confusion.

“Drain a little of the water,” he told her, he’d been reading anything he could get his hands on about babies and knew that this could be something they could try, it would mean that Regina wouldn’t have to sacrifice her bath time. If he were being honest the look on his girlfriend’s face told him that she wasn’t sure about this, “Gina, do you want to try it?”

“Yes,” she whispered, reaching out and taking Heidi from his arms, gently cradling her, the crying stopped immediately as her blue eyes widened at the feeling of her feet being submerged within the water, that was the only part of her that was as Regina had drained a lot of it so there was just enough for her not to get too cold, “hi baby,” Regina smiled, “are you hungry, hmm?” She lifted her a tad higher so the baby could latch on and she did, her little fists were balling up against Regina’s skin as she fed, sucking hungrily.

The mother closed her eyes and ran her hand gently up and down their little girl’s back, “are you okay with her?”

“I’m fine,” she grinned, chuckling at the slurping noise Heidi was making, “someone is very hungry.”

“How does it feel?” Robin asked as he stroked Regina’s shoulder.

“I don’t know how to explain it, just knowing that she relies on me for so much is scary, but it’s amazing at the same time.”

“Does it hurt?”

“Maybe a little at first, but I think we’ve got the hang of it now, haven't we sweetheart," Regina lightly sprinkled some water over Heidi causing her once closed eyes to open as she wriggled little fingers grasping at her mother's chest.

Robin reached over and found Heidi's hand, allowing the baby to hold onto his finger as she continued to feed, “you’re a natural mother,” he grinned, kissing Regina’s temple gently, “you’re just so perfect with her,” he stated in awe as their little girl slowed in her slurping, before her mouth slipped from her mother and her eyes remained closed, “is she asleep?” Robin chuckled as he leant closer to look at her.

“I think she might be,” Regina giggled, “can you take her for me? You’ll need to burp her.”

“Yeah, sure,” he lifted the baby from her, carefully wrapping her in a cuddly towel, “how about I take her and get her settled and you can finish off your bath?”

“That sounds wonderful,” she nodded, leaning back in the tub as she turned the water back on, filling it with warmth and lavender oil. Robin cast her one last smile before heading back to the bedroom carefully burping Heidi how he had been taught to in the prenatal class.

* * *

Once she was settled and asleep in her cot beside their bed, he decided to go and check up on Regina, pushing the bathroom door open he found her with her eyes closed and moved over to her, “Gina.”

“Hmm,” she opened her eyes sleepily and looked at him.

“Let’s get you to bed shall we,” he grinned, tucking her damp curls behind her ear as he reached into the tub and scooped her out, knowing that everything she would need to get ready for bed would be in their en-suite bathroom.

“Is she sleeping?” Regina asked as she grabbed a towel and draped it over herself.

“Yep, hopefully, you’ll be able to rest, I promise I’ll do the night feeds.”

“No, Robin, we said we’d alternate…”

“Regina, you need to sleep and you pumped enough milk, I might as well use it.”

“It isn’t fair on you Robin.”

“I want to do it, so would you stop being stubborn already,” he shook his head, he didn’t want her having to do all the work, Heidi was their daughter and he wanted to be able to do his part, he also needed to look after Regina, he didn’t want to risk her getting ill because of exhaustion and he knew that was where it would lead if she was watching out for Heidi 24/7.

Robin knew she was rolling her eyes at him as she huffed, “fine, but I’m still going to wake up when she cries, so I don’t see the difference between me doing them…”

“Regina…”

“Fine,” she chuckled, “now will you put me down so I can go get ready and then climb into my amazing bed for the first time in like 5 days.”

“I think I can manage that,” he grinned, placing her down before moving over to the crib and looking at his daughter who was sleeping peacefully. Regina glanced at her, just to check if she was okay before going to the bathroom with a pair of pyjamas to get ready.

Robin climbed into his side of the bed and waited for her to come and join him, he couldn’t wait to just hold her in his arms, they’d been sleeping apart whilst she had been in hospital, they had kept her in longer than they thought for observation, so Robin had been going home, it had felt weird being in their house without her, so in the end, he ended up back in his old room at his parent’s place.

He saw the bathroom light flick off and she came out, running a comb through her hair as she sat down on the bed, letting out a sigh as she did, before fully getting under the covers and flicking off the bedside lamp, “god I love this bed,” she breathed, snuggling into her pillow as she moved into his arms.

“I missed being able to hold you at night and know that you’re safe in my arms, I hated leaving you in the hospital, it just felt so wrong.”

She smiled and pressed her lips gently against his, “I love you so much and I promise you won’t have to sleep without me again.”

“Ever?”

“Well, maybe when I’m in the hospital after our next baby,” she stated seriously.

Robin’s eyes widened, “next baby? We just had one.”

She let out a loud giggle and rested her forehead against his, “gotcha.”

“Not funny,” he chuckled as he wrapped his arms around her, holding her against him.

“I know, we need to wait at least another month…”

“Seriously, stop messing.”

“I’m sorry, it’s just too funny,” she laughed, kissing him playfully before turning in his arms and reaching out to the crib, her hand slipping through the wooden slats to brush her fingers gently over Heidi’s, the sleeping baby responded by wrapping hers around one of her mommy’s. “I love her more than I have ever loved anything,” she whispered.

“Me too,” Robin agreed as he buried his face against Regina’s hair, spooning her back, she threaded the fingers on her other hand with his.

“We are the perfect little family,” Regina breathed, “you two are everything to me. I just can’t wait to see her grow up, I keep imagining what she will look like when she’s older, will her hair be curly like mine or straight like yours? We already know she has your dimples and your eyes…”

“She has your nose.”

“How can you tell?” Regina chuckled, “her nose is so small.”

“I just know she’s gonna be a mini-you with blue eyes.”

“I think so,” Regina smiled, having to let go of her daughter’s hand because of the ache beginning in her arm.

Robin heard her yawn and sighed, “go to sleep,” he kissed her shoulder lightly as he cuddled her, “something tells me we’re going to need as much of it as we can get.”

“I think you might be right.”


	4. Chapter 4

Regina awoke to the light babble coming from the baby monitor on her bedside table, she smiled just listening to her daughter as she cooed and let out little squeaks, she knew what she was doing, Heidi was probably playing with the mobile that hung above her bed, causing the little bunnies to dance in the air. She’s only been sleeping in her own room for a couple of nights and at first, Regina had felt more than reluctant to let go of her, but seemingly Heidi hadn’t minded, in fact, all three of them had been sleeping better because of it.

Regina slipped out of bed, pressing a kiss to Robin's head as he slept peacefully before making her way into her little girl's nursery and seeing that her ever-growing bundle of joy was wide awake, sitting up in her cot. At the noise of the door opening, Heidi turned to look at her, flashing a gummy smile as she kicked her legs joyfully, letting out a little laugh before reaching out. Regina beamed at her as she moved over and peered into the crib, "hello there my beautiful girl," she cooed, reaching her hand in for Heidi to grab, she clung to Regina's finger before trying to put it in her mouth.

Regina shook her head and lifted her up into her arms, running her fingers through the messy curls that seemed to be getting longer, at the moment they were tight ringlets like her own were at that age and Heidi managed to charm anyone who looked at her. Her blue eyes stared into Regina’s as she reached out and grasped her hair, Regina caught her before she could put that in her mouth also, she knew she was teething, one of her teeth was starting to come through and she was trying to chew anything she could get her hands on.

She picked up the teething ring with one hand and passed it to her daughter, allowing her to chew on it happily as she rested her head on her mother’s shoulder. “Okay, how about we go change your diaper and then wake daddy? How does that sound?” she pressed a gentle kiss to her daughter’s head as she walked her over to the changing mat, cleaning her up before changing her into pale-yellow and white stripy pants with a top adorned with the cutest cartoon giraffe on the front. Knowing their parents were coming by later she added a little yellow headband and tried to tame the curls a bit, something she found entirely impossible. “There we go, someone looks ready to go wake up daddy.”

Heidi clapped and nodded her head, Regina smiled at her and picked her up from where she was sat patiently on the changing mat, what had she done to be so lucky? She had the most perfect daughter in the world, she swore that no one’s child could be as wonderful and amazing as hers, it just wasn’t possible. Sure, she had her off days where she would cry and fuss, but they were few and far between, for the most part, she was a smiley, happy baby.

“Come on then,” Regina laughed as she jiggled her playfully on her hip as she clung to her like a little koala, when they reached the main bedroom she noticed that Robin was still asleep in bed, snoring with his head face first in the pillow, she chuckled and shook her head at him, “look at silly daddy,” Regina smirked, pulling a funny face at her daughter. Heidi laughed and reached for him, causing Regina to place her gently down on the bed next to Robin.

She crawled over to him, curling around his head as she dropped her teething toy and began sucking Robin’s hair, Regina sniggered as she climbed back into bed, simply watching her daughter as she kicked her little legs before deciding that her daddy’s ear was something to chew on, her little gums latching onto him, causing him to open his eyes and stare straight at Regina, “what the…”

She smiled at him and moved closer, one hand cupping his cheek, “I think our daughter wanted to wake you up,” she chuckled, as Heidi made a loud squealing noise at the sound of Robin’s voice.

“Hello princess,” he grinned tiredly as she managed to crawl so that she was in between her parents, one of her hands going to Robin’s nose and pulling it playfully, Robin acted shocked and she moved her hand, a gummy smile on her face as she went to grab his nose yet again, only for him to pull the same face causing her to nearly fall over from her seated position as she laughed. Regina reached a hand out and rested it on her back to keep her upright, but this caused her to turn around and reach for her mommy instead.

“Hey missy,” Regina laughed as she gently took hold of Heidi’s nose, causing her to go cross-eyed for a moment before bursting into a giggle fit and grabbing Regina’s hand.

“I love this outfit,” Robin grinned as he rubbed a hand slowly over Heidi’s tummy, her eyes dropping to watch his movements as her laughing quietened down, but the happy smile still remained as she kicked softly, "where's my adorable princess?" He cooed as she grasped his finger, tugging it to her mouth, "argh," Robin grimaced pulling his finger away from her prying gums, "that actually hurts."

"Oi madam," Regina chuckled as she scooped her up, she turned to Robin and rose an eyebrow, "try having that on your breast, then you might have the right to complain," she smirked poking him with one of her toes. "Speaking of, are you hungry darling?" she asked running her fingers softly through her daughter's silky curls.

"Are we gonna try her on the baby food soon?"

"Hmm, I bought some when I went to the store with your mom last week. We have to introduce it slowly though and even then, it's recommended you carry on breastfeeding for at least a few more months."

"Right," he nodded taking Heidi from her for a moment whilst she took her chemise off, leaving her in her panties as she leant back against the headboard and reached out for him to give her their daughter back. As soon as she was in Regina's arms again she latched on, her eyes closing as her legs kicked, she never kept still for very long, she liked to be able to move. Robin gently played with her toes, catching her tiny feet on every happy kick of her legs.

Regina shook her head at him, "you do know she literally clamps down on me every time you do that right?"

He rose his eyebrows at her with a brief smirk before standing from the bed, "okay so since my princess is having breakfast, what would my queen wish for?" he asked grabbing Regina's robe off the back of the door and putting it on.

"Seriously?"

"What you're not wearing it, plus it's the massive one I got for you when you were pregnant."

"I'm well aware of that, I'm simply referring to the fact that it is black silk," she giggled causing Heidi to open her eyes and look up at her, Regina simply ran her fingers through her curls and her eyes closed once again as she went back to her task.

"Breakfast?"

"Pancakes sound amazing," she smiled.

"They do, I'm on it," he pressed his lips to hers quickly before kissing Heidi's head and leaving them in the bedroom.

Regina looked down at her daughter who was humming as she continued to feed, she watched her long eyelashes flutter as her little nose bumped against her. It wasn’t much longer before she slowed in her sucking before moving away from Regina sleepily and curling up between her legs, “are you tired again sweetheart?” she whispered grabbing a blanket to wrap around her top half as she carefully moved from the bed, her eyes staying on Heidi who was drifting off laid in the middle of the bed. Not wanting to leave her that way, she scooped her up gently and carried her with her to the bathroom so she could quickly clean herself up.

* * *

Meanwhile, Robin was in the kitchen making pancakes when the doorbell rang, he turned the heat down and made his way through the entrance hall to the front door. Without even thinking he opened the door, coming face to face with not only his mother but Regina’s as well, “Mum, Cora.”

Their eyes widened as they looked at him, “urm Robin…”

“What on earth are you wearing?” Cora asked with an amused expression on her face as she moved past him, heading into the living room with Caroline hot on her heels.

“This is Regina’s, I just kinda grabbed it,” he cringed, “one second,” he hurried from the room to the bottom of the stairs before calling up, “babe, our moms are here.”

“Coming,” Regina replied as she straightened the red sweater she had chosen to pair with her skinny jeans, she was nearly back in the jeans she’d been in before she got pregnant, but for the time being she was making do with the ones she bought when she was three months with the slightest curve on her stomach. She had light makeup on and her hair was left natural, Heidi liked to play with her ringlets so she left them for her.

She bounced her daughter gently on her hip as she moved downstairs into the sitting room, “Heidi look who came to see you,” she smiled, but apparently her usually bubbly baby was too sleepy now to even notice that both her grandmas were there. Regina perched in between them as she moved her little girl into her lap, Heidi wrapped her hands around the fabric of her jumper as she buried her head against her stomach. “She’s a bit tired at the moment, she’s just had her breakfast.”

Caroline smiled and shook her head, “she is the most beautiful baby I have ever seen.”

“You say that every time you see her,” Regina laughed, she had lost count of the number of times Caroline had cooed over how pretty Heidi was.

“That’s because it’s the truth,” the older woman protested.

“I suppose it is,” Regina hummed stroking her daughter’s hair.

“She’s even prettier than you when you were a baby and that is saying something because you were the most adorable child,” Cora cooed, “although you did look similar, Heidi just has those pretty little dimples and the blue eyes that just melt your heart.”

“They really do, I always think I can’t possibly love her more and then every day she’ll just do something that makes my heart feel even fuller. She is the most amazing baby and Robin and I just love her so, so much.” She felt her mother’s hand rest gently on her knee before she squeezed lovingly.

“You are an amazing mother, I didn’t know how I felt at first, being a grandmother already and seeing you be a mother before you’ve even really had the chance to be an adult, but the thing is it suits you and now I can’t see you having any other life. You know how much we love you and Heidi,” she smiled as she found her hand.

Regina nodded and looked to Caroline who was agreeing with her mother, it was only then that she noticed the lack of male presence in the sitting room, “where are daddy and James?” she asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

“They got called into work for the morning, but promised that they would be back for dinner.”

“Okay.”

“What I think you should be worried about dear is Robin,” Caroline stated.

“Why? What’s wrong?” Regina asked, her eyes widening, where was Robin? Wasn’t he in the kitchen?

“Oh nothing, but seemingly he’s stealing your clothing,” she grinned.

Regina let out a loud laugh and shook her head, “Robin, come in here a second,” she called, looking to the doorway and watching as he came in with her robe still tied around him, “honey, do you think maybe you might want to go get changed?”

“Our parents weren’t supposed to be here so early,” he rolled his eyes as he hurried out of the room and up the stairs.

“I’m going to put Heidi down in her crib, she’ll sleep better there,” Regina stated as she stood from the couch, “I’ll be right back,” with that she followed Robin upstairs, but instead of going into her own room, she went into the nursery and carefully lowered her daughter down into her cot, stroking over her cheek lightly before turning the monitor in the corner on and heading out of the room and into her own.

Robin was pulling a shirt over her head when she walked in, she chuckled at him and moved closer, “not funny,” he huffed, a smile gracing his lips despite his protest.

“Oh, come on Robin, it is at least a little funny,” she chuckled, moving closer and wrapping her arms around his neck as he wrapped his around her waist.

“Hmm,” he shrugged before burying his face against her neck, his lips brushing across her skin, “I missed this,” he groaned.

Regina nodded against him as her mouth went a little dry, “me too, I missed you so much, just being able to touch each other.”

“God, tell me about it,” his kisses ran across that spot behind her ear that made her knees go weak.

“Our mothers are downstairs waiting for us,” she sighed as she reluctantly dropped her arms from him, it was a rare moment that they got to spend time alone together, even since Heidi had been sleeping in he own bedroom, Robin had been shattered, he’d been going to Uni in the day and then straight to work to do the late shift which meant he was falling straight into bed and to sleep as soon as he got home.

“You’re right,” he groaned as he moved away from her, not fighting the temptation to press his lips against hers one last time before gesturing to the door, “after you.”

“You just want to stare at my ass,” she smirked as she headed out of the door.

“Guilty as charged,” he laughed, swatting her playfully.

She was at the top of the stairs when she abruptly turned around and headed back into their bedroom, Robin asking her what exactly it was that she was doing. “I forgot the baby monitor,” she quipped, waving it at him and turning it on so that she would able to hear if her daughter woke up.

* * *

About an hour later they were all lounging in the sitting room when a loud crying started to pour from the monitor on the coffee table, Regina literally sprang up from the couch, not even finishing the sentence she was in the middle of, Cora stood also, stopping her from running off, “can I go?”

“Yes, I suppose so, but she doesn’t usually cry like that so…”

“She’ll be fine dear,” her mother smiled as she left the room and headed upstairs, leaving Regina stood up looking around.

“Babe, sit down,” Robin chuckled, reaching for her hand and pulling her to sit back beside him, his arms wrapping around her shoulders, “Heidi is fine,” he reassured as they went back to talking about all the new things the little girl had been getting up to. Regina, however, was concentrated on the wailing that was still pouring from the baby monitor, even though she knew her mother was in the room her daughter still wasn’t calming down.

She shuffled uncomfortably trying to engage in the conversation, but she just couldn’t when her daughter was crying as she was. Regina was about to just get up and go to her when the crying got quieter and then it was just as loud again as Cora came into the sitting room with a rather red-faced Heidi who was screaming and kicking. Regina jumped up from her seat and darted over to her mother, “baby,” she cooed, “what is it?”

Upon hearing her voice, the little girl turned her head to Regina, reaching out for her and flexing her fingers as her crying intensified and she wriggled violently, “mom let me take her,” she stated, lifting her daughter from her mother’s arms and cradling her. She rubbed a hand over her back as Heidi buried her face against her chest, muffling her sobs, “hey missy,” Regina cooed, bowing out of the living room with her and sitting on the bottom step.

Heidi calmed somewhat and released a little hiccup, her body jumping as she stopped wailing and instead let out little whimpers, “what’s wrong beautiful girl?” Regina asked, moving her so that she could see her face, she gently wiped away her tears as she bounced her on her knee, she pulled a funny-sad face at her but didn’t receive the usual gummy smile she normally did. “Oh no, aren’t you going to give your mommy one of your pretty smiles? No? Come on then,” she lifted her onto her hip as she moved into the kitchen.

Opening the fridge, she found the purple teething ring in the door, she’d read that cooling them could help soothe a baby’s gums, as long as they weren’t frozen they were helpful. “How about this?” she asked, holding it out for the little girl to take, once she had it in her hands she put it in her mouth and quietly rested her head against Regina, “there you go,” she smiled as she tickled her gently before heading back into the sitting room, “all better,” she nodded as she sank back into her seat between Robin and Caroline.

“Poor sweetheart,” the blonde woman pouted as she stroked Heidi’s hair gently, “teething?”

“I think so,” Regina nodded, “but it could have just been a nightmare, she’s had them before and it’s scared me something silly,” she sighed, pressing a kiss to her daughter’s tear-stained cheek.

Robin caught her foot and played with it carefully causing Heidi to look at him, still chewing on the teething ring as she did, “did you have a nasty nightmare?” He asked, “do you want a hug from daddy?”

She clung to Regina’s jumper and looked away from him, Regina smirked and shook her head, “no daddy, she doesn’t want a hug from you, she wants her mommy,” she teased.

“Seems you have a mommy’s girl there,” Cora chuckled, “Regina was a daddy’s girl as a baby.”

“Robin wasn’t,” Caroline laughed, “he clung to me and never wanted to let go.”

“I don’t think she’s a mommy’s girl,” Robin protested as he looked to his girlfriend and his daughter, “I think today she must just want her mommy that’s all, there are days when she wants me and not Regina.”

“Are there?” Regina grinned, playing with him, she knew that there were, just that morning Heidi had been curled up around his head.

“Shut up you,” he laughed, nudging her, “she loves us both equally.” 

“Hmm, although so does feed from me, so maybe she loves me a little more.”

“Rude,” he scoffed moving to pick Heidi up, he tried to lift her off Regina, but one of her hands had anchored onto her mother’s jumper and she refused to let go, she didn’t cry, instead opting to wriggle in his arms until he let her go.

“Sorry babe, she just doesn’t want you to hold her,” Regina sighed, hugging her daughter close.

* * *

Later that afternoon when their fathers had arrived, they were all sat in the living room after having some lunch, apart from Robin and his father who were still in the kitchen. Henry had asked to hold Heidi and Regina had just about managed to pry her daughter off herself to hand her over. She was currently sat on quietly her grandfather’s lap staring across the room to her mommy, her little fingers reaching out as she babbled lightly.

“Henry, put her down, I want to see what she does,” Cora chuckled and he did as he was told, placing her gently on the ground, as soon as he let go of her she was on her hands and knees, crawling quickly across the rug, making light laughing noises as she fell into Regina’s legs patting them.

“Mooooma,” Heidi keeled over, laying on her back looking up at Regina as she laid on her feet, “momaaaaaaa!”

“What is she saying?” Caroline laughed as Regina picked Heidi up from the carpet and rested her on her knee.

“What did you say Heidi?” She asked, stroking her cheek gently, it had sounded a little like she was calling for her, but Regina had read that a baby's first words weren’t until around 9 months, “I think she’s just babbling,” Regina grinned, kissing her head lightly. Robin and James came into the room and she slid off the couch to sit on the floor, “are you going to show your grandpa your crawling?” she carefully put Heidi on the rug and nudged her gently in the direction of Robin’s father who had his arms outstretched to his granddaughter.

She made off in that direction, seeming as though she was crawling towards him, but instead, she went straight past him, round the back off the sofa before landing on Regina’s other side, a stuffed toy now in her arms, “where did you get this?” Regina laughed, gesturing to the toy bunny in her daughter’s grasp. Heidi giggled as she sucked on the rabbit’s ear and leant against Regina, she managed to knock off her yellow headband and lose it somewhere.

“I think you lost this little lady,” James chuckled, coming over to her and carefully putting it back on for her, “there we go,” she looked up at him with a tilt of her head before throwing her bunny at him and squealing in laughter, falling into her mother’s lap in a position that looked slightly uncomfortable, but she laid there, her eyes now on Robin’s father. He handed the bunny back to her and she looked at it before throwing it at him again, her whole body shaking as she laughed. Regina smiled and picked her up, sitting her against her chest so she wasn’t at a funny angle.

“Robin, I think your daughter finds it funny to throw things at her grandpa,” he chuckled, passing the bunny to his son as he moved to sit next to his wife. Robin knelt in front of them and took up the role of passing her the toy, she now threw it at him instead, laughing even more than she had been with James.

“I’m just going to go to the bathroom,” Regina excused as she lifted her laughing baby off her lap and placed her on the ground. As soon as she stood up Heidi’s laughing stopped, wide little blue eyes stared up at her in what seemed like confusion, Regina smiled at her and walked towards the door, turning back to see her daughter crawling after her, “Robin, you better catch her,” she chuckled.

“On it,” he grinned, snatching her up in his arms as he lifted her into the air, earning himself a loud squeal as she began to laugh once again.

* * *

Later that night, after their parents had said their goodbyes Regina had said that she would wash up whilst Robin sat in the sitting room and watched football, he’d made dinner after all and she figured that he deserved some down time. Once all the pots were cleaned and put away, she heaved a heavy sigh and headed into the main room. Leaning against the door she watched as Robin softly stroked Heidi’s curls as she slept, a smile graced her lips as she walked in and kissed Robin gently.

“What’s that for?” he grinned.

“It’s for being an amazing boyfriend and father,” she hummed, “and as far as I’m aware, I don’t need a reason to kiss you.”

“No, you don’t,” Robin chuckled, pressing his lips to hers once again.

“How long has she been asleep?”

“Not long, she wouldn’t stop staring at the door for you and then fell asleep like that. You said she wasn’t a mommy’s girl, but she most certainly is and I can’t blame her.”

Regina bit down on her bottom lip and moved to sit beside Robin, resting her head on his shoulder as she closed her eyes, “I love you both so much,” she whispered.

“Love you too,” Robin kissed the top of her head before picking up the tv remote and flicking it off, “come on, let’s head upstairs.”

She hummed and nodded as she stood from the couch and flicked off the lights in the sitting room before following Robin up the stairs, her palm softly pressed against his back, “I want to cuddle her a little before we go to sleep,” Regina stated, leading him towards their bedroom instead of taking Heidi to her own room. She got ready for bed and climbed in before reached for her daughter, taking her in her arms and kissing her nose.

Robin climbed in beside her and shook his head, “I don’t think you have ever looked more perfect,” he breathed, nuzzling her neck playfully.

“That’s what you said just after I gave birth,” she laughed rolling her eyes.

“Well, I meant it then just as much as I mean it now. To be honest though right now you look less tired and more, happy mommy.”

“That sounds like a correct description, apart from the tired part, I’d say tiredness levels are about the same,” she smirked, it was partly a lie though because she had been totally and utterly drained after giving birth to Heidi, it had knocked her out. She laid down with her daughter resting on her chest, she could feel herself falling asleep and didn’t know if she could keep her eyes open any longer. “If I fall asleep, will you put her to bed for me?”

“Sure,” Robin chuckled, laying next to her, his fingers playing with her long curls as he rubbed one hand over Heidi’s back, “you go to sleep, I’m right here.”

“Promise?”

“Promise,” he nodded, “sleep.”

“I almost forgot something,” she quipped her eyes opening as she turned her head to look at him, “how would you feel about a date night next Friday?” she bit her bottom lip as she waited for his response, she had talked about it with her mother whilst he was in the kitchen and she knew they had been in need or some quality time together.

“I like the sound of that.”

“My mother said she would take Heidi for us, I was reluctant at first, I don’t know how I’ll feel being away from her overnight, but I know we need some time to just be together.”

“That sounds wonderful babe,” he groaned.

“I missed being with you.”

“I missed being with you too,” he agreed.

“Until then I’ll be looking forward to Friday,” she breathed, kissing his lips again before closing her eyes and drifting off with her beautiful daughter in her arms and her amazing boyfriend by her side.


	5. Date Night

Friday came sooner than expected and Regina had dressed in a short and rather tight black dress, she hadn’t worn it in what seemed like forever, but now she finally had an opportunity to pull it back out of the closet. She had also applied more makeup than she usually wore nowadays and curled her hair. She was apprehensive about what was to come, it would be their first date since having Heidi, their first night at home without her and she had to admit she was a little reluctant to leave her alone, even if she would be staying with her parents, she liked to be able to check on her daughter at any time.

She sat in the passenger seat as Robin drove through town, heading to her childhood home so that they could drop Heidi off, she played with her fingers in her lap as she kept turning her head to check on her daughter who was strapped into her booster seat chewing on a rubber teething ring. Regina took a deep breath and leant over to bounce her foot gently, “hello sweet baby,” she hummed as Robin pulled over outside 108 Mifflin Street.

Regina sighed before getting out of the car and lifting her baby from her seat and holding her tight, kissing her head as she buried her face in her daughter’s hair, inhaling the new baby smell that still lingered. “Regina,” Robin placed his hand on her back, rubbing it gently, “she will be just fine with your mom and dad.”

“I know,” Regina nodded as she kissed Heidi’s head, “I just feel strange not having her with us, I’ve been with her for the entire six months of her life, I’ve always been there for her when she’s cried. What if she needs us Robin and we aren’t there, what if something happens to her and I can’t take care of her,” Regina panicked, stroking her daughter’s cheek, she couldn’t just leave her, what kind of mother would that make her? She thought she would be fine with it, but clearly, she had thought wrong because she couldn’t bear to think about leaving her daughter.

“Babe, come on, let’s just go inside and talk to your parents okay? You’ll see that Heidi will be perfectly fine with them, she has all her things and you went through them over and over,” he rubbed her back lightly, “trust me Heidi will be more than okay with your mom and dad, they will spoil her rotten and you know they will,” he chuckled.

Regina sighed as she walked with him up the path to the front door, she knew he was right and that she was being dramatic, but she was just a protective mother and she liked to know where her daughter was at all times and know that she was safe and sound. Robin knocked on the door before they walked straight in, Cora and Henry met them in the hallway, both with happy smiles on their faces, “look at our favourite granddaughter,” Cora cooed and took Heidi from Regina’s arms.

Regina watched her nervously, observing the way her baby happily played with her grandmother’s hair as she cooed and buried her head against her shoulder. She chuckled to herself before glancing at Robin, she couldn’t believe she had overreacted, of course Heidi was going to be okay, her parents were more than capable of looking after her, nothing would happen to her whilst she was with them. “Thanks for looking after her tonight mom,” Regina smiled.

“You are very welcome, we are happy to have her here, any time.”

“We certainly are,” Henry agreed, “she is a little sweetheart and a lot better behaved than you were at that age,” he laughed as he took the supply bag from Robin.

“She’ll need at least one more feed on the bottle before she goes to sleep,” Regina instructed, she’d pumped some breastmilk earlier that day so she wouldn’t have to worry about disrupting their date to feed Heidi, “I wrote down the instructions for heating it and things like that, they should be in the bag. If she fusses, it could just be that she needs her teething ring, or she might be hungry so just see what she responds to. She usually sleeps straight through nowadays, but if she wakes up she could have had a nightmare or her diaper might be dirty, she makes different noises and…”

“Regina…”

“Sometimes if she fusses you just…”

“Regina, I think we’ll manage,” Cora smiled as she carefully passed Heidi over to Henry and reached out for her daughter’s hand, squeezing it lovingly, “don’t worry about Heidi, she will be totally fine and we can handle anything okay. We want you to have a good time tonight and just relax. Does Heidi look worried to you?”

Regina looked at her baby who was laughing as she pulled on her Grandfather’s tie and he pulled funny faces at her. She shook her head, “no, she looks fine.”

“That’s because she is fine, we set your old crib up for her in your room so she can sleep there and before you worry, we have the baby monitors.”

“I wasn’t worried,” Regina lied, she had packed their own monitors because she had been worried about Heidi crying and no one hearing her. She glanced at Robin who was simply smirking at her as he moved to kiss their daughter’s head before waiting by the door.

Regina swallowed heavily as she approached Heidi, “hey sweet girl,” she cooed, stroking her cheek gently, “mommy and daddy are going to have some time together, but don’t you worry, Grandma and Grandpa will look after you,” she smiled, chuckling at the way her daughter grabbed her finger and pulled it, “so we’ll see you tomorrow, sleep well my darling and be a good girl.” She kissed her cheek and ruffled her hair before giving her the little bunny and turning to Robin. “Let’s go,” she whispered, trying not to cry at the thought of leaving her baby for the first time.

As they walked out of the door she could hear her daughter laughing at something that Henry was doing and smiled as she turned to look at Robin, “she’ll be fine,” he stated, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her towards him so he could kiss her cheek.

“I know she will,” Regina smiled as she climbed back into the car, “so, where are you taking me?”

“Now that would be telling,” he grinned as they set off.

* * *

Regina’s eyes widened as they pulled up outside the Italian on the edge of town, the one they had gone to on their first Valentines day together, she smiled at him and chuckled as they got out of the car and moved to the entrance, “this was such a good idea,” she quipped as he opened the door for her, allowing her to go inside. He’s reserved the table they had sat at the last time they had been here and Regina chuckled to herself, “so am I going to order the lasagne whilst you get pizza and then we share?”

“Sounds like a plan,” he laughed, leaning over he kissed her tenderly before taking her hand across the table, “you look so beautiful tonight, I can’t keep my eyes off you.”

“I don’t want you to,” she whispered, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth as she squeezed his hand fondly, “it’s strange not having Heidi with us.”

“Yeah, but she is totally fine with your mom and dad and we have been in need of this for some time. As much as I love her, which is more than I can even say, I just miss us.”

“Me too,” she agreed as they placed their order with the waitress.

* * *

Regina unlocked the front door as Robin kissed the side of her neck, his hands brushing up and down over her hips, “Robin,” she breathed, her own hand holding onto his as she twisted the key in the door and pushed it open, “god I need you so badly.” They almost fell through the door as Robin pushed her jacket off her shoulders and closed the door behind them, locking it whilst she rid him of his coat and immediately went for his shirt. Her fingers skirted over his back as she lifted it up after he managed to undo some of the buttons.

Once his shirt was off and his chest revealed, she ran her lips over his body, allowing her hands to roam over him, “you’re so hot,” she whispered, sucking his skin as she moved her hands to his belt.

“Whoa babe,” he laughed, reaching for her and pulling her towards him, “we have all night,” he tucked her hair behind her ear as he pulled her gently towards the stairs. She went with him, moving inside the bedroom and pushing him down onto the bed before straddling his lap.

“We might have all night, but I want to make sure that we use this time productively,” she husked, “and I want to be on top. I have missed having sex with you. Take my dress off Robin,” she ordered, watching as he moved his hands to the hem of her dress and pulled it up over her head. “I can’t believe we haven’t had sex in so long,” she rolled her hips against his, they hadn’t had sex in eight months and she just wanted him to fuck her, she needed it, needed the relief she hadn’t had in so long. He had been so patient with her, but at the end of the day they had both just been exhausted, now though they were totally ready to explore one another again.

“I know,” he nodded, staring at her body like a man starved as his fingers started to stroke over her skin, starting at her hips and working upwards to the side of her breasts before his hands slipped behind her and he unhooked her bra, allowing her to shrug it off.

He brushed a finger over one of her nipples and her eyes widened, “Robin,” she whispered all of a sudden feeling slightly conscious of her body, she didn’t want anything to get in the way of them having a good time together and enjoying each other and leaking milk was definitely not sexy, in the slightest. “I’ll be back in a minute,” she stated, slipping off his lap and hurrying into the bathroom to find the breast pump, she couldn’t leak if there was nothing to leak.

Once she was done, she glanced in the mirror and cleaned herself up a little, straightening her hair and wiping her smudged makeup before dropping her panties and taking a deep breath as she walked back into the bedroom, leaning against the doorpost and gazing at Robin who was now naked on the bed and had lit a few candles and put the music on. “Hey, you okay? You just ran off.”

“I’m fine, I just had to take care of something,” she smiled coming back over to him and straddling him once again feeling more confident in herself. “I see you got rid of the boxers,” she smirked, running his length through her folds.

“Hey, I wanted to go down on you,” Robin groaned, rubbing her upper things as she rocked against him.

“We have all night for you to do that, you’ve been teasing me most of the night so I just want us to have sex,” she moaned leaning down to press her lips against his, kissing him passionately and moaning into his mouth. She moved her hand between them, trying to line them up, just as she was about to lower herself onto him he found her hand and stopped her.

“Babe, wait.”

“What?” she whimpered, pressing her head against his, “why?”

Robin leant over to his bedside table and took out a bottle of lube, “I don’t want to hurt you, I was looking into it and it said that…”

“Robin,” she smiled, pressing a hand to his cheek and loving how caring and thoughtful he was, she had forgot about everything she read in the baby books, at that moment she had just wanted him inside her, not even thinking for a second that it might hurt her.

“I mean we have to be careful with your beautiful…”

“Yes, we do,” Regina laughed as she shook her head at him, watching as he poured some of the lube into his hand before rubbing it all over his cock. She licked her lips before moving back into the position she had been in before and letting him guide himself inside her. She closed her eyes at the sensation, it was different to how it had been before, he filled her completely and her walls spasmed around him at the feeling of complete fullness. “God,” she breathed, resting a hand on his shoulder and opening her eyes to see his reaction.

“Shit,” he breathed, “you’re even tighter than you were before,” Robin groaned.

“I know,” Regina nodded, beginning to roll her hips as her breath hitched, it was so, so tight. She dropped her head forward to rest against his as she continued to fuck him, working at her own pace. She was going so slowly and it felt so good and relaxing that she could almost fall asleep on top of him, but she at least wanted her orgasm before that happened. “Flip us,” she whispered, wanting him to take over.

Robin did as he was told, flipping them so that Regina was below him, he picked up the pace, thrusting into her quicker and harder as her hand slipped down her body to find her clit. She moaned as she arched into him, moving with him, matching his thrusts, little whimpers slipping from her lips as she wrapped an arm around him, her nails raking along his back. “Robin,” she squealed, rolling her hips against him. “Yessss,” she hissed digging her nails into him as she felt her orgasm creep up on her.

“Are you close?”

“Hmm,” she nodded, biting down on her bottom lip before Robin lowered his lips to hers and kissing her, his thrusts becoming more erratic as he bottomed out inside her causing her to shudder in his arms as she tore her lips from his and whimpered loudly, not because he hurt her but because it felt too good, it was just the way she liked it. “Robin, god! Robin,” she cried increasing the pressure on her clit.

She could feel herself tottering on the edge and all it took was another well-aimed thrust from Robin for her to fall apart in his arms, her body trembling as she shook and her walls clung to him as he carried on, still seeking his own release. After a couple more thrusts he dropped down beside her, pulling her into his arms and pressing a kiss to her head. Regina felt fresh tears roll down her cheeks as she buried her face against his chest.

“Gina,” he rasped, trying to catch his breath as his hands rubbed across her back, “Regina.” She didn’t respond and instead opted for nuzzling closer to him, allowing her tears to pool on his skin. “Babe,” his hand moved to her cheek, “Regina, did I hurt you? Was I too rough? I’m so sorry baby.”

“No, you didn’t hurt me,” she whispered, looking up at him and smiling as she moved her fingers to brush over his lips, “I love you so much and I just missed feeling so connected to you that my heart feels as though it’s going to burst, I didn’t even realise how much until now. It felt like our first time all over again.”

Robin chuckled softly and kissed the top of her head as his fingers ran through her hair, she knew he was thinking back to how she had cried the first time they had sex. “Glad to know that I’m such a sex god,” he grinned playfully.

Regina laughed and wiped the tears from her eyes before sitting up and tossing her hair over one shoulder and reaching for her phone which was in her discarded purse. “You are pretty amazing,” she nodded in agreement.

“What are you doing?” he asked, sitting up and kissing her shoulder as he watched her intently.

“I just quickly want to call my mom and make sure Heidi is alright, I promise that this will be the last time I check in tonight, after that I am all yours,” she smiled patting his cheek lovingly.

“That’s fine, I want to know how she is too,” he grinned pressing his lips to her neck and wrapping his arms around her as she called her mother.

After three tones her mother picked up the phone, **“everything is fine Regina. Stop worrying.”**

“I wasn’t worried,” Regina lied, “I just wanted to make sure that she’d taken her bottle and that she was behaving for you. She can be a cheeky monkey sometimes.”

**“Well, she has been extremely well behaved and she took her bottle, so you have nothing to stress over and you can continue to enjoy your night off.”**

“Thank you for looking after her and I’m glad she behaved for you.”

“ **Of course, we’re happy to have her anytime,”** her mother stated, **“goodnight Regina, and don’t worry about rushing over here in the morning to come get her, we can handle her for a few extra hours.”**

“Thanks mom, goodnight.”

**“Goodnight sweetheart.”**

Regina cut her phone off before slipping it onto her nightstand and turning to Robin. “Well, the night is young, our daughter is being well behaved for her grandparents. I think there was something you wanted to do earlier that I said you could do later,” she smirked, raising her eyebrows at him.

“Oh, I did,” he groaned, laying her down and kissing his way down her body, “and I am definitely going to take you up on that offer.”

“Good,” she hummed before closing her eyes and submitting to the pleasure that she’d been missing out on.


	6. A Friend Comes to Visit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heidi is now 7 months

As soon as the knock on the door sounded Regina shot out of her seat and ran to the front door, she flung it open and squealed as she wrapped her arms around her dearest friend. He lifted her off the ground, spinning her around a little, “hey you!” Jefferson chuckled.

“Oh my god! I have missed you so much!” she pulled back from him her hands going to his cheeks, “what is this? You look so different,” she gasped feeling his stubble under her fingers, he always used to be clean-shaven so this was a first for her. “I really like it.”

“So do the guys in LA,” he winked playfully causing her to shake her head.

“So, where is this boyfriend you told me about?!” Regina gushed, “you said you were bringing him.”

“I brought a whole entourage darling,” Jefferson grinned as his eyes looked over her, “you look different too.”

She tucked her hair behind her ear consciously and smiled at him, feeling slightly shy, she didn’t know where that was coming from, but she couldn’t stop it from manifesting. “That tends to happen when you have a baby Jefferson,” she stated.

“I didn’t say it was a bad different! You look good! Really good…” 

“Hardly, I don’t really have time for me any more so…” at that she was cut off by crying coming from the sitting room, “come in, I just need to go get her, she’s been sleeping all morning,” Regina hurried inside, taking a deep breath whilst she had her back to him, they had both changed a lot since they last saw each other and she just hoped that he still liked who she was now, she was a different person whether he liked it or not. Her daughter was her number one priority.

“Where’s Robin?”

“Oh, he’s at college today,” she shrugged as she came to the playpen Heidi had been sleeping in. “Hey baby, mommy’s here now,” Regina cooed as she bent down and lifted her daughter into her arms, the crying stopped immediately as Heidi’s eyes fell onto their visitor. She watched him with interest shining in her eyes, her little fingers still clinging onto her mother’s shirt.

“She is the cutest baby I have ever seen in my entire life!” Jefferson claimed as he came nearer.

“I think so, but maybe I’m a little biased,” Regina smiled looking down at her beautiful baby who was sat quietly on her hip, being her perfectly behaved self, “I got lucky with Heidi,” she laughed kissing her daughter’s head and causing her to look away from Jefferson in order to look up at her mother and reach for her playfully, patting her cheeks as she giggled to herself.

“I can’t believe I’m only just meeting her now. Hi Heidi, I’m your Uncle Jefferson,” he greeted, reaching out his hand to her.

“Do you want to hold her?” Regina asked.

“I’m not sure me and babies mix all that well,” he shook his head, “that and I have never held a baby before.”

“Well, there is always a time to start, sit,” Regina ordered smirking at him, “I need you to watch her for me whilst I get ready, where are we going again?”

“Just to a restaurant,” he shrugged as he sat down on the couch, following her instructions. 

“Okay,” she carefully placed her daughter on his lap, “now if she cries, you can sing to her, that usually works, although she rarely cries unless there is something wrong with her so you should be okay.” Regina glanced at them one last time before hurrying up the stairs to get ready. She hadn’t had time before Jefferson got there, because she had been so busy doing the household chores and seeing to Heidi. She felt rather underdressed in his presence and that was something she hadn’t really felt before around him.

Hurrying to her closet she glanced at the outfit she had planned to wear that day, a simple burgundy jumper and some skinny jeans, but she felt that wearing that she might be a little underdressed. Jefferson had said that he brought a whole entourage with him, she had only really been expecting his boyfriend, so now she was extra worried about making a good impression.

Regina searched her closet for something that would work and finally landed on a dark blue summer dress that had a tight top and floaty skater skirt which dropped to her knees. She quickly changed into it before running a brush through her hair, making her curls fluff out way too much, she cursed under her breath before hurrying into the bathroom and putting some product in it. It was in times like these that she regretted growing her hair long again, it just looked messy.

With a sigh she applied her makeup, using her signature red for the first time since her date with Robin a couple of weeks before. She glanced in the mirror one last time, nodding at her appearance, it would do, it wasn’t quite up to her usual standards, but it would have to do. Once she had finished with herself she ventured into Heidi’s room, looking for something for her to wear, she found an adorable summer dress which matched the one she was wearing and took it off the hanger, her daughter was going to look a lot better than her. She grabbed the soft brush from the side along with a couple of buzzy bee hair slides, some little socks and a pair of shoes before heading downstairs, she’d already changed her diaper so she should be good to go.

“You ready?” Jefferson asked, turning to look at her, Heidi was back in her playpen with her stuffed giraffe in her hands as she looked up at her mother.

“You put her down?” Regina questioned with furrowed eyebrows as she picked up her daughter once again.

“Yeah, I had to take a call.”

“Oh,” she whispered in response, “well I’ll just change her and we can get going?”

“Are you dropping her off with a sitter?”

“No, why would I do that?” Regina scoffed with an eye roll as she placed her daughter down on the opposite couch and took her onesie off before finding the pretty dress she had chosen and carefully pulling it over Heidi’s head, the little girl’s hands immediately beginning to play with the flowers that were stitched into the skirt. Regina sat down beside her and patted her lap, when she saw the brush in her mother’s hand Heidi crawled onto her and sat with her back facing her mother, knowing that she was going to have her hair brushed.

“I just… sorry,” Jefferson cringed, “sorry Gina, I guess I’m just not used to having babies around when we hang out.”

“Well, I hate to break it to you J, but you’re going to have to get used to it,” Regina shrugged as she gently brushed her daughter’s curls, she loved having her hair brushed, Regina knew that it made her sleepy. She smiled as she carefully slipped in the delicate slides into her baby’s dark curls. “Look at you beautiful girl,” Regina smiled as she kissed the top of her head.

“Can I help you?” her friend asked and she nodded.

“Yes, do you think you can manage to put her socks on?”

“Yeah I think I can do that,” he picked up the frilly socks and found Heidi’s feet as she kicked them playfully, giggling at him.

“She likes to move her feet,” Regina laughed at the look on her friend’s face as his hands were pretty much kicked away.

He finally caught them and slipped the socks onto her tiny feet, “shall I put her shoes on too?” Regina reached over and passed him the shoes which he carefully put on also, doing up the velcro before releasing her feet and letting her kick them once again. “She looks so cute!”

“Of course she does,” Regina smirked.

“Very true! Any baby made by you and Robin would be beautiful.”

Regina stood up, lifting Heidi up at the same time, “so am I driving or are you?” she asked.

“I can, will her seat go in my car?”

“It should yeah,” Regina nodded as she gently placed Heidi in her car seat, strapping her up before grabbing the changing bag and stroller, “her seat just fits into the stroller too, my mother bought it for us and I think we are finally getting the hang of it even though we’ve had it for months.”

“Want me to get those for you?”

“Please,” she smiled handing him the things she was holding as she picked up the seat Heidi was in, checking for the last thing she would need and turning to the door, “let's go.” 

* * *

Over the course of the drive Regina and Jefferson took the time to catch up and reacquaint themselves, Heidi was making her own entertainment in the backseat as she played with some of her toys. Regina was just happy that she could still talk to him and not be scared of confessing too much, during the car ride he seemed to slip back to being his old self again and the mask that he’d seemed to be wearing back at the house dropped.

“I’m looking forward to Tink and Graham coming back this weekend! I have missed them so much! Lacy is also back on Monday, so I think we need a squad trip to Granny’s,” Regina laughed, sometimes she just needed a reminder that she was still young and that she didn’t have to stop enjoying herself just because she had extra responsibilities, just because she was a mother didn’t mean that she wasn’t allowed to have any fun.

“I am in strong agreement with that,” he chuckled as he pulled up into a parking space at the mall.

“So, this was the surprise venue.”

“We’re going to a restaurant in the mall,” he rolled his eyes at her and she hit him playfully, “I really missed you Gina.”

“Right back at ya,” she smiled, breaking out of her trance by the now restless baby kicking in the backseat, “it’s because we’ve stopped,” Regina stated, “she doesn’t like to just be sat there without anything new to look at.” Regina hopped out of her seat and unclipped the straps before lifting her daughter out of the chair, “I think I’ll just forgo the stroller, it’s a pain in the butt to set up.”

“You sure you’ll be okay just carrying her?”

“I’ll be fine, she isn’t exactly heavy and I’m sure they’ll have high chairs. Hello, there my sweet baby,” Regina cooed as she stroked Heidi’s cheek gently before finding the toy giraffe that had fallen onto the floor of the car, she passed it to her daughter who cuddled to it before resting her head against Regina and kicking her legs softly. “I think we’re good to go. Heidi are we going on an adventure?” Regina asked, brushing a stray curl behind her baby’s ear.

“You know you look good with a baby on your hip.”

“Like she’s an accessory?” Regina laughed, “the latest Gucci bag in the form of a seven-month-old baby.”

“I just meant you make a good mother.”

“I know, I’m teasing,” she stuck her tongue out at him causing Heidi to laugh as they made their way towards the entrance of the mall. “So, who will we be meeting then?”

“Oh, well there’s Adam who I already told you so much about and showed you a picture,” he grinned.

“Your hot boyfriend,” she smirked playfully, “who else, I didn’t even know you were bringing other people, I thought it was just going to be you and Adam, I’d planned a double date and everything,” she teased, she hadn’t really, but she had been considering it and knew that Jefferson would love finally having someone to go with on a double date with her and Robin instead of being somewhat of a third wheel like he used to be.

“We can still do that! Leave the rest of the gang at home,” Jefferson shrugged, his hand moving to play with Heidi’s foot, Regina smiled at that, knowing that as much as he might not like to admit it, her friend was warming up to her daughter. She’d been worried at first after the rocky start, but she had a feeling that by the end of the day he was going to love Heidi nearly as much as she did.

“So the rest of the gang, who are they? Have you replaced me?”

“No! Never! I could never replace you!”

“I should hope not, I know I haven’t done a very good job of keeping in touch lately.”

“You’ve been busy living life, looking after baby, cleaning up poop and vomit and whatever other messes babies make.”

“Trust me you don’t know the half of it, this little madam certainly keeps me on my toes. Okay so, other friends.”

“Okay, so there’s Ivy who is a fashion major and Nick who is… well, he’s just Nick.”

“Right helpful.”

“You and Ivy will love each other! Trust me, you have so much in common.”

“Is she a teen mom too?” Regina joked seeing her friend’s face fall, “I’m joking, chill out.”

“That isn’t the only thing you have going for you Gina,” he shook his head, “you have so much to offer, much more than being an amazing mother.”

Regina smiled at him, he was right, she still wanted to do all the things she had dreamt of before becoming a mother and she knew that she would do, when Heidi was old enough not to be fully dependent on her she would go to university and get her degree and then she would get her dream job whilst being a mother and hopefully wife. She was somewhat surprised that Robin hadn’t proposed yet, they were already living together and had a daughter together, so it made sense for them to get married.

“Maybe, but being an amazing mom comes before everything else I have to offer. Looking after this little one and bringing her up well means the world to me and I wouldn’t change it for anything,” Regina hummed, gently bopping her daughter’s nose as Heidi buried her head against her trying to make her mother play a game with her, wanting her to try and catch her nose like her father did with her.

“Of course,” he agreed as they stopped outside a restaurant and he peered through the glass, “I see them, they’re here.”

“Why didn’t they just come with us?”

“Because I wanted some alone time with my bestie and my niece. I also didn’t want you to feel awkward and they wouldn’t have even fit in my car anyway.” 

Regina looked through the glass, spotting three people sat at the table he was pointing to, one was the man she had seen in the pictures, the one she knew was Jefferson’s boyfriend, there was a guy sat beside him and then sat next to him was a girl with dark hair and dark eyes that Regina stared at a little longer than the rest. “She looks…”

“Nice? Yeah, she’s amazing.”

Regina smiled awkwardly, she was actually going to say that she looked a lot like her but snootier, but she had learnt better than to judge someone before she even met them so she was going to give the girl a chance.

“Come on let’s go in.”

She held on tighter to her little girl as if drawing her confidence from her, “let’s go in then shall we,” she whispered pressing her lips to the top of her daughter’s head as she walked over the threshold of the restaurant. She didn’t know why she was feeling nervous, they were Jefferson’s friends and surely that meant that they would accept her also.

“Guys! This is Regina! Regina this is Adam, Ivy and Nick.”

“Hi,” she smiled shyly, bumping her daughter higher up on her hip as she looked to each of the people sitting around the table.

“Regina! I’ve heard so much about you, he literally doesn’t stop talking about you!” the blonde guy grinned, “it's so good to finally meet Jefferson’s best friend.”

“Likewise, I don’t think I’ve been able to get him to shut up about you either,” Regina teased taking the seat that Jefferson gestured towards as the waitress came over. “Do you have a high chair?” Regina asked.

“Of course,” she nodded as she scurried off to get the seat for Heidi to sit in. The little girl was now bouncing on her lap as she peered across the table at the new people she had never met, seeming braver than Regina.

“So, you brought your little sister to dinner?” the other woman quipped, “that’s cute.”

“My what?” Regina laughed, “I don’t have a little sister, just a big one.”

“Oh, so the baby is…”

“My daughter,” Regina stated resting her chin gently on top of her little girl’s head. She saw the look on the brunette’s face as she glanced at the guy who was sat next to her, Regina took a deep breath and gave Heidi a little squeeze, causing the baby to look up at her and turn around so that she was leaning into her chest, her little face pressed right against her mother as her hand clung to her summer dress. For a seven-month-old baby, Heidi sure could sense when her mother needed comfort and, at that moment, she was spot on.

“Shit, I’m so sorry that happened to you.”

“Pardon me?” Regina’s eyes widened as she looked at the other woman in complete shock.

“I mean no one wants to get pregnant so young, I couldn’t imagine it, it must be awful being a single parent.”

“Who said I was a single parent?” Regina scoffed, “I actually have a boyfriend and we love our daughter very much, so why don’t you get to know the facts before you give me your pity,” she hissed as the waitress came up to them carrying a high chair, “thank you,” Regina smiled at her. Part of her really just wanted to stand up and leave, but she was here for Jefferson, she wanted to get to know his friends and learn more about his new life in LA, but if that stuck up bitch said another nasty thing about her being a young mom she didn’t know if she would be able to handle her temper. “Anyway, this is Heidi,” Regina introduced, hearing Jefferson’s boyfriend aww at her.

“She is the cutest little angel I have ever seen,” he gushed from where he was sat, “any chance I can have a hold?”

“Of course,” Regina grinned as she passed Heidi to Jefferson who still looked rather scared to actually touch her, “what is that face?” she giggled.

“It’s my, she’s so precious and I don’t want to break her, face,” her best friend groaned.

“Oh I get it! That’s why you put her down this morning.”

“I told you I didn’t do babies and that meant that I had no clue how to keep a hold of her, she was wriggling and I had to put her down before I dropped her.”

“You wouldn’t have dropped her.”

“I didn’t want to hurt her.”

Regina shook her head at him and rested her head on his shoulder, she understood now, she got why he had been so anxious around her daughter, he had been scared of something happening to her, he didn’t want to be responsible for her hurting herself or for something bad to happen to her. “You’re holding her now and she’s fine,” Regina pointed out, watching as Heidi played with the scarf that was wrapped around her friend’s neck.

“I suppose,” he sighed as he passed her to his boyfriend who held her as though he’d held a million babies. She could feel Ivy’s eyes on her from across the table and glanced over to see the girl staring at her, Regina’s hand slipped to Jefferson’s arm as she squeezed it gently, “she doesn’t like me,” Regina whispered.

“Who, Ivy?”

“Who else?” she cleared her throat before biting the bullet and talking to her, she could hardly just pretend that she wasn’t there, “so Ivy, what is it that you study?” Regina asked confidently.

“Fashion,” she quipped sipping her drink and not saying anything else.

“Sounds fascinating.”

“Ivy, you should see Regina’s collection! She has so many designer things,” Regina glanced at him and smiled awkwardly, she used to have designer things, but she sold most of them when Heidi was born, despite her mother and father saying that they would gladly give her money she didn’t like to depend on their handouts, she’d sold quite a few of her bags and other clothes. She wasn’t going to correct Jefferson though, she didn’t want the stuck-up bitch to look down on her any more than she already did.

“Which designer is your favourite?”

“I love my Choos,” she stated, she hadn’t quite been able to bring herself to sell her Jimmy Choos, instead they were in the back of her closet still in their boxes because she never had the opportunity to wear them. “How about you?”

“I’m a Louboutin fan myself.”

“Hmm, I had a pair of those, but I wasn’t too keen on them so gave them to my sister,” Regina shrugged, she wasn’t going to suck up to the bitch, not by any means.

“Miss can I take your order?” the waitress asked as she appeared at their table, Regina was about to say what she wanted when Ivy chirped up.

“Do you have sparkling water with extra ice and lemon?” The waitress looked rather taken aback that she had just butted in but nodded and wrote it down on her pad. “I also want a Caesar salad without the dressing, or the anchovies, I don’t want any cheese or bread.”

“Give her lettuce,” Regina joked seeing the smirk that the waitress tried to hide at her comment, but she could tell that Ivy wasn’t at all amused by her comment.

“That’s all thank you, although make sure there are tomatoes.”

The woman taking their order nodded before turning to Regina, “I’ll have a burger and fries please with lemonade, I do want the bread, and the cheese and whatever unhealthy food comes with that,” she grinned, “also this is going to sound really weird, but can you possibly do a bowl of pretty overcooked carrots and a banana?” She looked over to her daughter who was staring at her from where she was sat on Adam’s knee.

“Sure.”

“Is there somewhere I might be able to go and… you know,” she hadn’t thought that one through and felt her cheeks burning up, she usually wore a big baggy jumper so that no one could see, but she hardly felt comfortable breastfeeding in public wearing a summer dress.

“Of course.”

“Thanks, you’re a lifesaver,” she didn’t want to mess up Heidi’s routine, sure she wasn’t feeding her that way as often, but she was still doing it around three times a day whilst supplementing the rest with homemade baby food that she’d learnt to make whilst at her mommy and me classes.

“Isn’t she a little old for that?” Ivy questioned.

“Do you have a child?”

“God no!”

“Then don’t assume that the way I am parenting is wrong. It’s recommended that you continue breastfeeding combined with other foods until your baby is around two years old, so no, she isn’t a little old for that,” Regina snapped back, reaching to take her daughter back when she heard her start to make little noises. “Is it alright to do that now?” she turned to the waitress.

“Yeah, sure follow me.”

“Excuse me,” she nodded to the rest of the people sat at the table before standing up and following the woman, “thank you, I really needed to get out of there.”

“I could tell,” she smiled kindly, “forgive me for saying, but that woman is extremely rude and judgemental.”

“You noticed that?” Regina laughed as she tucked one of Heidi’s curls behind her ear. “Something tells me she has it out for me, probably because of Heidi,” she sighed. “Some people just don’t get it.”

“You know what, they are the people that you don’t need in your life.”

“You couldn’t be more right,” Regina grinned as the woman opened a door for her and gestured to the room.

“You should be fine to do what you need to do in here.”

“Great, thanks.” Regina made her way inside and sat down on the little couch before unbuttoning the top of her dress and allowing her daughter to feed from her as she ran her fingers through her hair. She was glad for the excuse to get away, she just needed to find her feet and reassure herself. All of a sudden she heard her phone begin to ring and rooted in her bag to find it, she quickly swiped right and put the phone to her ear, “hi babe,” she breathed.

“Hiya baby, how’s your day with Jefferson going?”

“Horribly,” she groaned, “I wish you were here with us.”

“What’s going on?”

“He introduced me to his friends and one of them is awful, it’s clear she doesn’t approve of the fact that I’m a mother and she obviously doesn’t want Heidi around. She’s just nasty.”

“Aww, well don’t let one horrible woman ruin your time with your friend. I finished early for the day, so I was wondering if maybe you would have room for one more at the table, you’re at a restaurant in the mall right?”

“Yes! Please come, Robin, I feel I might go insane.”

“Okay, I’m on my way, I might just walk around, it’s literally two minutes away from campus.”

“Yes, I love you!”

“Are you saying that because I’m saving you from the evil witch or because you mean it?” he joked playfully.

“I think I’m gonna say both,” Regina smiled. Just hearing his voice had made her feel so much better and she knew that him being there at dinner with them was bound to make her feel more at ease with the situation.

Around five minutes later Heidi had finished her feed and Regina cleaned herself up a little before heading back out to their table, “is daddy coming to see us?” Regina asked looking at her daughter whose blue eyes nearly bulged out of her head at the mention of her father, “do you love your daddy?” Regina grinned as the little girl squealed and clapped her hands together. She glanced at the door and watched as Robin explained to the waiter that he would be joining someone, she bit her bottom lip and pointed him out to Heidi who screamed causing Robin to turn his head and see them.

“Hello my little princess!” he cooed as she reached for him, he lifted her out of Regina’s hands and swung her playfully through the air until he was holding her against his chest, “have you been a good girl for your mommy today?” he asked jiggling her gently.

“Of course she has,” Regina smiled moving to press a quick kiss to his lips, “hello.”

“Hi you,” he chuckled bumping his nose against hers, “so then, where are we going? And do I have to deal with the bitch lady?”

“Unfortunately, I doubt she will have left, so yes,” Robin wrapped the arm he wasn’t using to hold Heidi around Regina as they headed back to the table. “Look who I bumped into,” Regina stated causing Jefferson to turn around and look at them.

“Robin! Hi!”

“Hi J, long time no see,” he grinned releasing Regina from his grasp and reaching out to half-hug Jefferson with Heidi sandwiched between them before moving back so that Regina could get into the booth next to Jefferson and he could sit on the end.

The same waitress came with their drinks and placed them in front of everyone, “can I add another burger and fries to the order please?” Regina asked, “and…”

“Just an orange juice with lemonade please,” Robin filled in.

“I already knew you would ask for that,” Regina laughed as she rested her head on his shoulder glancing across at the brunette who was trying to forge a look of disinterest and failing.

* * *

The rest of the meal seemed to go rather well with Regina and Ivy ignoring one another the entire time, that was until around halfway through when Ivy decided to speak up again. “So Robin, are you Heidi’s father then?”

Regina almost choked on the lemonade she had just sipped as she turned to look at the insane woman, wasn’t it pretty obvious that he was Heidi’s father? Heidi looked just like him, sure she had her mother’s hair and nose, but her dimples and eyes were all Robin. “Yeah,” Robin furrowed his eyebrows at her, “I’d have thought that was clear,” he stated, stopping feeding Heidi the mushed-up carrot and earning himself a miniature glare in return as she tried to reach for the spoon.

“You never can tell,” she shrugged smugly as she ate one of her lettuce leaves, “I mean maybe she just burdened you with her kid.”

“Burdened?”

Regina placed her hand on Robin’s arm, squeezing his bicep trying to tell him to let it go and that it wasn’t worth it, “babe,” she whispered.

“My daughter is not a burden and as for not being her father, Regina and I were each other’s firsts, so unless she somehow got impregnated by magic, then I think Heidi is mine. Who do you even think you are?”

“Robin just leave it,” Regina sighed.

“No, no I won’t leave it, how dare you say something like that and disrespect our family,” he seethed.

“Seems someone has a little issue with rage.”

“Ivy shut up,” Jefferson snapped.

“It’s not my fault he’s touchy. Maybe he’s insecure about something, either that or he knows that she’s a…”

“Regina let’s go,” Robin stated.

“Robin…”

“I’m not going to just sit here and let her talk shit like that! Stupid…”

“Oooon!” Heidi cooed reaching for Robin’s hand, “oon, oon!”

“What is she saying?” Regina asked as she looked to her daughter who was still reaching for Robin.

“Ooooon! Hiiiii! Sooon!”

“I think she wants the spoon,” Jefferson pointed out.

“Do you want the spoon, Heidi?” Robin asked as he held it out to her and she squealed, wrapping her little fingers around the spoon and banging it on the tray of the high chair.

“Soon!” she gurgled, reaching for the little bowl of mashed up carrot and trying to put the spoon into them, after a while of trying and failing at this she threw it across the table, the carrot that she had managed to scoop up flew off the piece of cutlery before landing on Ivy’s expensive white silk blouse causing her to let out a loud shriek.

Regina really tried to keep a straight face, but her daughter’s high-pitched giggles were infectious and she found herself in tears of laughter as the woman frantically tried to wipe the orange mush from her clothes.

“That is disgusting! Your child is out of order!”

“Our child is a baby,” Robin laughed, “I doubt she meant to get her dinner on your top, did you, princess?”

Heidi squealed as her head lolled against his arm and she reached up, clearly wanting to be lifted out of the chair, he picked her up, lifting her into his arms and resting her on his knee.

“I think you need better control over her.”

“Ivy shut up,” Jefferson chuckled, “you sound like a complete idiot.”

She scoffed as she stood up and nudged past Nick who had remained virtually silent the entire time they had been inside the restaurant.

“Well J, I can safely say that you were entirely wrong about Ivy and I getting along,” Regina snorted finishing the last bite of her burger.

“Yeah, sorry about that guys. Jefferson, I think Ivy and I are going to go to check out Boston, so do you want to meet up in New York in a couple of weeks before we go back to LA?” Nick asked and Regina was shocked to actually hear him speak and she couldn’t help but think that Ivy was definitely the top in their relationship.

“Yeah, are you sure you’re gonna go?”

“Yep, I think she has said enough and I want you to enjoy your time with your friends,” he smiled awkwardly as he took some money from his wallet and dropped it on the table, “it was nice meeting you both, sorry about Ivy, she can be a little bit…”

“Judgemental?” Robin tried.

“Bitchy?” Regina scoffed.

“Yeah, both. Anyway, bye.”

“Bye,” Regina waved before sitting back in her chair and breathing a sigh of relief.

“I told you they would clash,” Adam chuckled from where he was sat in the corner.

“Shut up, I should have listened to you,” Jefferson sighed.

“Yep,” his boyfriend grinned smugly.

“Sorry about that Gina.”

“You’re just lucky that I had my daughter with me otherwise I doubt I would have been so polite,” she smirked leaning against Robin’s arm, “do you two want to come back to our place for drinks?”

“Yeah sure!” Jefferson smiled, “maybe I can try holding Heidi again.”

“As long as you don’t break her.”

“I think I can manage that,” he chuckled, “did she just say her first words?”

“I think she nearly said spoon,” Regina shrugged, “but I’m still holding out for her to say mommy.”

“She’s going to say daddy first,” Robin scoffed.

“Nope, it’s going to be mommy.”

“I suppose we’ll soon see won’t we,” he grinned as Heidi found her toy giraffe that was on the seat between her parents and stuck it in her mouth, sucking on its ears as she gurgled happily. Regina smiled and rested her head on Robin’s shoulder, people could say whatever they wanted about her little family, but she knew the truth and her heart was full of so much love for the both of them.


	7. Tired Arguments Over Silly Things

Robin slammed the front door as he entered the house, he'd already been in a bad mood but he'd found out something that had made it even worse. He tried his best to provide for his family, tried to make sure they had everything they needed, but it seemed he'd been failing and his girlfriend hadn't even thought to let him know about it.

He was going to college in the day and working at night bartending, so between the two jobs he barely even got any time to spend with Regina and Heidi. He was working his ass off to provide for his girls, but seemingly that wasn't enough.

Regina appeared at the top of the stairs and wrapped her bathrobe around her as she walked down them, "hey, what's with the slamming? You'll wake Heidi," she whispered, moving past him and into the kitchen. "I only just managed to get her down she was being a stubborn madam tonight."

"Sorry, I'll try to close it quietly in future," he scoffed, rolling his eyes, his tone making her turn around. He could sense an argument coming, he didn't see any way around it, they needed to talk about things. He hated arguing with her.

"Bad shift?" She asked, pressing a hand to his chest in what he assumed was an attempt to calm him down.

"Regina, we need to talk."

She furrowed her eyebrows before nodding and sitting at the kitchen island, "okay, what is it you want to talk about?"

"You borrowed money from your parents again," he stated fixing her with a serious look.

"Yes I did, but I don't see why that's such a problem. It wasn't as if it was a lot of money and I'll pay them back when I get my salary from the bakery," she shrugged.

"What did you even need money for?"

"Groceries, the electricity bill."

"Regina I told you I was handling all that! I was making the money for the electricity bills."

"I know you said you were but..."

"I don't want to hear it, Regina! We can't rely on your parents to pay our bills for us. You knew how I felt about your parents giving us handouts, you knew and you went to them anyway."

"Come on Robin! You're being unreasonable, it wasn't a lot of money and they like to help us out. You need to stop being so proud and let people help us," she spat, glaring at him. He could tell that he'd hit a nerve, she was getting angry and so was he, it wasn't a good combination. "We're only twenty! How are we supposed to cope with all this on our own? I hate it when you do this Robin, it's like if I try to help you just freak out on me."

"I have every right to be angry."

"Are you even listening to me? Robin, it's okay to ask for help now and then. We have Heidi to support, our parents understand. You're making yourself ill Robin, you're working too hard and you're going to end up sick, Heidi and I never even see you anymore," she whispered looking down at her hands, immediately making him feel guilty for yelling at her.

"Sorry, I know you're right, I just want so badly to make sure that you and Heidi have everything."

"What we need is you, Robin, Heidi needs her daddy and I need my boyfriend." She stood from her chair and moved over to him, he knew that she'd diffused her anger and was trying to do the same to his. He had to say that it was working and he felt himself feeling bad for even bringing it up.

She sat on his lap and wrapped her arms around him, in turn, he held her close, pressing his lips against her shoulder. "I'm sorry for yelling at you, I'm a stupid idiot."

"You're tired, it's understandable, and yes sometimes you are a stupid idiot," she grinned pressing her lips to his cheeks, "but you're my stupid idiot and I love you so much," she hummed, rubbing her thumbs across his face in a way that relaxed him immediately.

"I love you too," he sighed, hugging her tightly.

"I hate it when we fight."

"Me too. I'm so sorry I yelled at you."

"You already said that," she chuckled, playfully ruffling his hair.

"I know but I meant it."

Regina shook her head and stood up, weaving her fingers with his and leading him towards the stairs, "how would you feel about sharing a bath?" She asked, biting down on her bottom lip as she moved towards the bathroom.

"I think I would like that a lot," he grinned, moving her hair over her shoulder and pressing his lips to the side of her neck, "mmm."

"When was the last time we had sex?" She whispered, moving one arm over her shoulder to wrap around his neck, practically trapping him against her.

"You wanna do it?"

"Hmm, it's been a while since we've had makeup sex."

"I think we should..." he was cut off by a loud cry coming from the room down the hall. "I swear our daughter is like the sex police. She doesn't want her parents to get any," he chuckled. Truthfully, he didn't mind Heidi's interruption, he would actually be happy to have some time with her.

"Seems as though sex is off the table," Regina laughed as they walked into their daughter's room, finding the little girl sat up in her crib with tears rolling down her red cheeks. "Oh sweetheart, what is it?" She asked, lifting her out of the cot. As soon as her blue eyes landed on her father she let out a delighted squeal, the tears soon being replaced with pure joy. "Seems she was missing her daddy," Regina grinned handing the little girl over to Robin.

"Hello sweetheart," he smiled pressing a kiss to her small cheek and allowing her to scrunch his shirt up in her tiny fists. Regina wrapped her arm around him as they both talked to their daughter, for the first time in a while, he felt calm and realised that all the work he was putting in was well worth it. His family was his everything and they deserved the world. Arguments over little things were pointless, from now on he would try to make sure that his girls were as happy as they could possibly be.


	8. Sannnnnnnd Cattles

Regina carried Heidi in her arms as the two of them made their way down the path towards the beach. They’d come on holiday with both her family and Robin’s and this was going to be her little girls first time on a proper beach, one where it was actually warm enough for her to dip her toes in the sea. They’d chosen California because Alex’s mother lived there and she’d offered her hospitality.

It was rather hilarious to see Cora, Caroline and Frankie interact, they’d become friends rather quickly and seeing as it was the first time they’d met, they hit it off better than anyone could have hoped for them to. They were already on the beach but Regina had stayed back at the house for a little while. Heidi had still been sleeping and she also needed the rest so Robin had suggested that she meet them later.

She caught sight of her family immediately, not that you could miss them. Cora and Caroline were sat on matching sun loungers as they gossiped. Henry and James were in deck chairs going over something to do with work and Frankie, Robin, Alex and Zelena were playing beach volley ball.

“Look over there Heidi,” Regina cooed, pressing a kiss to the top of her daughter’s hair, “do you see the sea?”

“Seeeeee,” she nodded, kicking her legs happily as they headed towards their family, “hi mom,” Regina smiled, sitting down on the towel that was laid between her mother and Robin’s and placing her daughter down in the space between her legs as she leant back, feeling the sun on her face as her little girl laid down against her thigh.

“Did you sleep well?” Cora asked, reaching out to brush her hair gently behind her ear as Regina did the same to Heidi.

“Yes, thank you. It was nice to have a lie-in for once,” she chuckled, closing her eyes as Heidi crawled up to rest her head against her chest. Regina opened her eyes to find bright blue ones staring down at her and her daughter giggled before reaching out and grabbing a fist full of her hair. “Don’t be pulling on that madam,” Regina laughed, lifting her up in the air before cuddling her to her side. “How about we make some sandcastles? Hmm?” she cooed, watching as Heidi began crawling off the towel towards the sand.

Regina followed her, crawling after her in her denim shorts and white cropped top. They stopped in the sand as Regina passed her a bucket and spade, Heidi began banging the bucket with the little spade as Regina helped her move some of the sand into it.

“Aw look at my gorgeous girls,” Robin cooed, sitting down with them and kissing them both gently, “what you making there Heidi?” he asked, his arm wrapped around Regina as they both began to play with their daughter.

“We’re making sandcastles aren’t we baby?”

“Sannnnnnd cattle!” Heidi squealed, allowing the fine particles to run through her little fingers, “sand cattle.”

Regina’s eyes widened as she stared at her daughter in shock, so far most of the things Heidi had babbled about hadn’t made sense, but this time it did. She had quite clearly said the word sand, “baby, did you just say sand castle?”

“Sannnd cattle.”

“Robin, did you hear that,” Regina whispered, tearing up as she looked at her boyfriend, “baby, mommy is so proud of you,” she breathed, kissing the top of her daughter’s head, giving her a tight hug.

“Did she just speak?” Cora gasped, looking down at them.

“Yeah, she did, beautiful baby,” Robin hummed, helping his daughter turn over a bucket to make a sandcastle, lifting the bucket and showing her the little tower underneath. “Look at that,” he cooed only for Heidi to reach out and knock it down again, laughter bursting out from inside her as she fell over in fits of giggles, running her fingers through the sand. They all knew that it was going to be one of their best holidays ever.


	9. The Cutest Pumpkin

When Regina returned home from work, the first noise that met her ears were the playfully shrieks coming from her little girl. A smile tugged on her lips as she hung her coat on the stand and took her shoes off. She peered around the doorway into the sitting room and spotted Robin laying on the floor with Heidi sitting next to him, she had a paint brush in her hand and was putting it all over Robin’s face.

Robin looked up and saw her and she had to force herself not to laugh, his face was absolutely covered in different coloured paints, they’d all merged together into a murky kind of brown, all except from his mouth which was bright red. Regina gestured for him not to tell Heidi that she was there before she crept silently into the living room.

“Dada scary!” Heidi giggled clapping her hands together, “good!”

Once Regina was right behind them, she moved to kneel on the ground and reached to out lift her daughter into the air, “boooo!”

“Moma!” Heidi squealed, kicking her little legs, “face paint!”

“I see that you painted daddy’s face,” Regina cooed, kissing Heidi’s cheeks as she cuddled her, her fingers playing with the tiny plaits in her daughter’s hair, “good job princess.”

“Dada scary clown!”

“Oh he’s supposed to be a clown?” she asked, gently stroking the baby hairs sticking up at Heidi’s temple, “well, he looks like a very scary clown.” 

“How was work?” Robin questioned, sitting up and kissing her lips softly, rubbing his hand up and down her arm.

“It was good,” she hummed, “so, what have my two favourite people been doing today?”

“We were carving the pumpkins and then we went into the studio for a bit.”

“You risked taking Heidi into the studio?” Regina chuckled, putting her daughter down as she wriggled in her arms before running on wobbly legs across the living room and into the dining area, leaving Regina to lean back against Robin.

“She seems to be an up and coming artist just like her daddy,” Robin shrugged, pressing his lips to the top of her head.

“Hmm, do we have a miniature Freda Kahlo on our hands?” she laughed, turning in his arms to look at him properly. After their disagreement a few months ago Regina had decided that she would take over for him some nights at the bar, it wasn’t fair that he should have to go to college in the day time and then to work every night, she wanted to shoulder some of that burden, working at the bakery in the mornings just wasn’t enough.

“Seems that way,” he grinned, pecking her lips gently, “I’m gonna go upstairs and find our costumes.”

“Okay,” she nodded, brushing her fingers over his cheek as she watched him disappear upstairs to retrieve their outfits. Once he was gone Regina stood up and moved towards the dining room, she was about to go inside when Heidi called out to her, “no moma, stay. I show you.”

“Okay, what are you showing me?”

“Sit moma,” she instructed in the adorable bossy tone that she sometimes used, she was beginning to grow into a cheeky little madam just as Regina had been at that age, however that just made Regina love her even more, she was her beautiful baby girl. “Moma, close eyes,” Heidi ordered as she crashed into Regina’s legs, “look.”

Regina opened her eyes and looked at the picture her daughter was holding and felt a smile tugging on her features. It was the cutest thing she had ever seen and she couldn’t help herself from pulling her baby girl into her arms and kissing her face, “this is so amazing sweetheart.”

“Cat.”

“I see that,” she hummed as her daughter cuddled against her. The painting was of a black cat and although it was just a few shapes, she could clearly make out what it was. “Shall we put it on the fridge?”

“Yay!”

Regina stood and moved into the kitchen, pinning the picture up before lifting her baby up onto her hip and heading upstairs, “I thought daddy would have put you in your costume by now. Robin, do you…” Robin came out of Heidi’s room holding up a pumpkin costume. “Come on then baby, let’s get you ready to go, we have a Halloween party to get to.”


	10. Illness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heidi is now 18 months

Regina was startled awake by loud crying coming from the crib in the sitting room, she shot up on the sofa and glanced towards the cot where she had put Heidi down a couple of hours ago before accidentally drifting off on the couch. “Hey baby, you’re awake,” she cooed, moving to scoop her daughter up in her arms and rest her on her lap as she leant her back against the sofa. Heidi was still screaming and fussing in her arms and immediately Regina had a sinking feeling that something was wrong with her little girl. Heidi never cried like that, not since she’d gotten older.

“What is it, sweetheart?” Regina frowned as she pressed her palm gently over her daughter’s forehead, she was burning up. Panic coursed through her veins as she rocked Heidi trying to get her to stop crying. “Its alright baby,” she hummed, quickly scrambling for her phone, once she found it, she dialled Robin’s number, she knew that he was in a class but hopefully he would be able to answer. “Come on Robin,” she sighed, still worrying as her daughter screamed in her arms. The call kicked into his voicemail and she stared at her phone in disbelief, she had no idea what to do, Heidi had never really been sick before.

She scrolled through her contacts and landed at her mother’s name, it was a weekday and she knew that her mother would be at the school, but it was worth a shot. She dialled the number and almost immediately her mother answered, “Regina, I’m at work, is everything okay?”

“I don’t know what to do,” Regina panicked, hearing her mother’s voice just made her panic even more than she had been doing before. “She won’t stop crying and she has a fever, I don’t know what’s wrong with her.”

“Calm down sweetheart,” Cora sighed, “call Caroline, it's her day off today.” In her worry Regina had completely forgotten the reason she was home in the first place, the bakery wasn’t open on Mondays, which meant that Robin’s mother would be at home.

“Okay, yes, sorry for bothering you at work.”

“Don’t apologise, Regina, now call Caroline and keep me posted.”

Once she was off the phone, she called her mother in law and Caroline said that she would come right over straight away. Now she had to just sit and wait, she watched as Heidi cried and wriggled in her arms. She was getting really hot so Regina decided to undo one of the buttons on her onesie, that was when she noticed the small rash on her chest, red spots freckled her skin. At that moment the door opened and she heard Caroline calling her name from the hallway.

“Look,” Regina carried Heidi over to the older woman and showed her the marks, “I hadn’t noticed them, they weren’t there this morning when I changed her.”

“Oh, I know what this is, seems like somebody has the chickenpox don’t they sweetheart,” Caroline cooed, stroking her fingers through her granddaughter’s hair. Regina watched on and tried to remain calm as she watched her mother in law, she was always so chilled out and never panicked about anything, she just took it all in her stride. “Let’s get her in a cool bath, it should soothe the itching a little, do you have any ice lollies?”

“Ice lollies?”

“Hmm, they are good to keep her hydrated.”

“Yes, I think we have some.”

“I’ll go get the bath running then, come on little one, grandma is here.”

Regina moved into the kitchen and found a lemonade flavoured ice lolly, she knew that one was Heidi’s favourite. She could still her daughter crying upstairs and had to take a minute to ground herself, she hated that sound and knowing that it was because her baby was sick made her hate it even more. She quickly sent a text to Robin to let him know what was going on before heading up to find Caroline and her daughter. “I got the lolly,” she quipped as she moved into the bathroom and saw the older woman placing Heidi into the shallow water, her hands holding onto her gently.

Heidi’s sobs had lessened somewhat when she grabbed the rubber duckie from the side of the bath and it began bobbing in the water. Regina sighed in relief when she heard a tearful laugh, she moved over to the side of the bath and ran her fingers through Heidi’s hair, causing the little girl to look up at her, “moma,” she sniffled, her hand reaching for Regina’s and holding it close, “warm.”

“I know, you are warm,” Regina sighed as she unwrapped the lolly with one hand, it was a skill she had learnt a while ago whilst trying to juggle her daughter in one arm and give her something with the other, “how about this ice lolly?” she grinned, holding out the cool treat and making Heidi’s blue eyes widen.

“Lemon!”

“Of course! Lemonade is your favourite,” she chuckled as she handed her the lolly and Heidi took it from her.

“Thank you moma.”

“You’re welcome sweetheart,” Regina sighed as her fingers went back to running through her daughter’s dark hair. “Thank you for coming over Caroline, I was really worried.”

“As would any mother have been,” the blonde smiled kindly as she shuffled closer and placed a hand on Regina’s arm, “so what if you had a little wobble and panicked, it doesn’t make you any less wonderful.”

“Sometimes I just think that because I’m so young I don’t know things that I should, what if Heidi suffers because of me? I should have noticed the symptoms earlier.” Regina felt tears welling up in her eyes as she looked at her baby girl as she happily ate her ice lolly, it was a complete contrast to how she had been a few minutes ago.

“Regina, don’t beat yourself up about this, everyone is human, and you said yourself she didn’t have any of the spots this morning, sometimes they just appear without you noticing.”

“I just thought she was developing a cold because she’d been a little clingier than usual the past couple of days. How has she even caught this?”

“I’m not sure, she must have caught it from another child.”

Regina looked at her daughter and tried to think when she might have come into contact with anyone else, she was still too young for nursery. Realisation flooded through her as she remembered taking Heidi to the park the week before, she had played in the sandpit with some other children her age and Regina hadn’t thought anything of it, obviously, that had been how she caught the chickenpox. “Well, let's just focus on her getting better.”

“Will you be alright if I pop to the pharmacy and pick up some cream for the rash?”

“Yes, of course,” Regina nodded, “thank you, Caroline.”

“Anything for my favourite girls,” the older woman nodded as she stood up from the floor, “Grandma will be back soon sweetie,” she cooed to Heidi before leaving them alone in the bathroom.

Regina continued to play with Heidi’s dark curls, twirling them around her fingers as she hummed a soft tune, “you’ll be just fine,” she breathed, closing her eyes for a moment and listening as the door downstairs opened and closed again.

“Regina?!”

She turned to the bathroom door and saw Robin appear in the doorway before coming into the bathroom, “what’s happening with Heidi?” he asked, coming to kneel beside Regina in the space where his mother had been before she left. “Hey baby girl, are you feeling poorly?”

“Dada! Lemon!” she squealed, holding up the lolly that seemed to be distracting her from the itchy spots covering her body.

“Ooh is that yummy?”

“Yummmy,” she nodded eagerly as she carried on eating the melting lolly.

“What’s wrong with her then? You said she was sick in the message.”

“She has the chickenpox.”

“Really, I didn’t think that they caught it this young.”

“Well, I think she must have caught it from one of the children playing in the sandbox at the park,” Regina sighed. “Didn’t have you a lecture this afternoon?”

“I told my lecturer that my daughter was sick and he told me not to worry about it, so it's fine, I wanted to be at home with the two of you,” he shook his head as he looked at Heidi and then to Regina, “hey, what is it?”

“Nothing,” she whispered, her eyes were burning from the tears that were threatening to fall down her cheeks, “it was just scary that’s all.” She took a deep breath and swiped at her eyes. Robin pulled her into his arms, hugging her tight.

“Don’t worry, she’s going to be fine, its okay Gina,” he breathed, his fingers stroking across her back as he pressed a kiss to the side of her head.

“Moma crying?”

Regina chuckled and pulled back before looking at the little girl who was staring up at her from the tub. Regina could tell that her crying had worried her daughter.

“Moma sad?”

“No darling,” Regina shook her head, deciding that it was time for Heidi to come out of the bath, “I just love you very much that’s all,” she stated, scooping her up before wrapping her in a towel and hugging her. “I don’t like it when you’re poorly because its mommy’s job to keep you safe.”

“Hug moma.”

“Thank you, baby,” she chuckled, pressing a kiss to her daughter’s head as she pulled away from her a little, “how about we get you changed and have a family pyjama day?” Regina asked, glancing up at Robin.

“I think that sounds like a brilliant idea, how about I take her and get her changed?” Robin suggested, holding his arms out to take their daughter from her.

“Okay, I’ll head downstairs and pick a movie. How about Despicable Me?”

“Minionsss!” Heidi squealed, clearly, the bath had made her feel a little better and Regina was going to make sure that she had a little children’s Tylenol so that she didn’t go back to feeling how bad she had that morning, she just hoped that she got better soon.


	11. Happy Birthday Heidi

It was crazy in the Locksley-Mills household, both Regina, Robin and their parents were all hurrying around trying to get everything ready. There were decorations and food everywhere, not to mention the presents that had been unwrapped earlier that morning and scattered around the whole house. Heidi had piles of them all discarded in the sitting room, soft toys, drawing things and even a dolls house from Regina’s parents, even if she was still a little young to be playing with that.

Heidi was sat in her playpen watching cartoons on the television as people worked around her, her eyes couldn’t be torn away from the characters on the screen as she clapped along with the program. Luckily, she was able to keep herself entertained because Regina really didn’t have time to play with her properly, though there was always someone in the same room as her to make sure she was okay.

The decorations were virtually finished and Regina was stood in the kitchen fussing over the food and making sure that it looked as good as it could on the table. “What time did you say everyone was coming dear?” Henry asked as he came up behind his daughter and tried to steal a sandwich from her set up, only to have his hand playfully smacked away.

“Daddy, don’t eat the party food yet,” she scolded with a roll of her eyes, “at least wait until the guest get here.”

“Which will be when?”

“In about… twenty minutes. Oh god, is everything done? Maybe we should have just kept this low key.”

“It's not every day your baby girl turns two Regina, enjoy the moment and stop stressing out. Everything looks perfect. Now, why don’t you go and finish getting yourself ready and I can make sure that it’s all taken care of down here.”

“Are you sure?” she asked. She knew that she still had a couple of things to do before she would be presentable and she also wanted to add a bow to Heidi’s hair if she would let her.

“Yes, go, stop fussing, you’re getting to be as bad as your mother.”

“Oh no, don’t say that,” she chuckled with a shake of her head before thanking her father and making her way into the sitting room to retrieve her daughter. The room which was modernly furnished was now decorated with pink streamers, balloons and birthday girl banners, all with the number two on them. She had to admit that the place looked really good and she was happy with the outcome, though she knew that she was going to have to transfer all of Heidi’s opened presents upstairs to her bedroom.

“Hello baby.”

“Moma! Look!”

She glanced at the tv and saw Heidi’s favourite show on the screen, that was certainly going to pose a problem when it came to taking her upstairs in order to do her hair, she knew that her daughter wouldn’t want to stop watching the program and that she was going to have to literally tear her away from the screen. “Ooh, that’s good. How about we go upstairs and I can make your hair look pretty?”

“Is pretty moma,” she shook her head, her little hands going to her hair and touching it gently.

“Yes, I know it’s pretty already, but I thought we might put a nice bow in it, wouldn’t you like that?” Her daughter’s hair was a mop of dark curls that landed on her shoulders, most of the time they were untameable, quite like Regina’s own natural hair when it was that short, however, hers now fell just to her breasts and was much longer than it had been when she first met Robin. “We could watch this upstairs on moma and daddy’s television whilst I do your hair for you.”

“I watch this.”

“Yep, but upstairs,” Regina stated bending down to pick her up, only for Heidi to dodge her hands and move to the other end of her playpen, tapping her feet along to the program on the television. “Hey, come on, we need to get ready for your party.”

“Mine?”

“Yeah, it’s your birthday Heidi, so come on and maybe you could have some cake.”

The little girls head whipped around and she stared at her mother instead of the TV, “cake?”

“Come on,” she shook her head and make a quick dash to scoop her daughter up into her arms.

“No moma! I watch!”

“God, you can’t be entering the terrible twos already! You’re only just two today,” Regina scoffed as her baby girl wriggled in her arms in an attempt to escape, a stroppy expression on her face. “Heidi, stop it.”

“I don’t wanna bow!” she cried, her fingers wrapping around her mother’s hair and Regina knew exactly what she was intending to do with it.

“Heidi, don’t you dare young lady.”

“I wanna watch, moma.”

“Let go of moma’s hair right now.”

“Heidi, you better not be being a bad girl for your mommy,” Robin warned as he came through the front door with more helium balloons. That managed to make her quieten up as she dropped her mother’s hair and looked solemnly down at her dress.

“Sorry moma,” she whispered, cuddling into her as she realised that she’d been naughty. “I do want bow.”

“I thought you might,” Regina chuckled, kissing the top of her daughter’s hair as she made her way upstairs to get them both ready.

* * *

An hour later and everyone had arrived, and they were all crammed into the downstairs area which was in no way big enough for the number of people they had invited, Regina was regretting not taking her mother up on the offer of housing the party, but she’d been wanting to have it at their own place for once.

Heidi was sat on Alex’s knee as her auntie showed her how to work the toy she’d bought for her birthday, arguing with Zelena about how to properly set it up, much to Heidi’s delight as the little girl laughed at the two women, clapping her hands at them.

Regina was sat with Tink and Lacy catching up, Lacy was telling stories of what was going on at University and how she was going into her final year. It made Regina realise what she had missed out on, that would have been her, she would be nearly finished with her degree and thinking about studying for her PhD. She’d always wanted to have the title Dr before her name. That wasn’t going to happen now.

“Its actually really hard! I have to start planning for my dissertation already!”

“Me too, it’s just so tedious and tiring,” Tink groaned.

“God, tell me about it, last week I was up studying for finals and I think my brain might have been officially fried. I’m so tired.”

“I know right! It’s so exhausting!”

“Try being a mother, then you’ll know the real meaning of tired,” Regina laughed dryly before standing up and clearing her throat, “anyone want another drink?”

“Oh shit, Regina. We didn’t mean anything by it, I know how Uni was your dream since we were little.”

“It doesn’t matter,” she shrugged, “I’m not going now and I’m okay with that. I have Heidi and she’s better than any degree I might get from University.”

“No one said you couldn’t go to College later, I mean Robin is going now isn’t he?” Tink asked.

“Yeah, but I wouldn’t want to neglect Heidi by...”

“Robin goes, is he neglecting Heidi?”

“No of course not!” 

“So what the hell is stopping you from enrolling?”

“Maybe when she’s older.”

“You should do it Regina, when she’s in school.”

She hadn’t thought about it before, but the girls had a point, she could study for her degree whilst Heidi was in school. Could she really have it all though? That sounded like way too much to handle, she knew she would have to wait and see what happened before she agreed to do anything.

“Regina.”

She looked up to see her mother coming into the room, “there’s someone at the door, I thought you might want to get it.”

“Oh,” she furrowed her eyebrows before nodding and excusing herself, she made her way into the hallway and opened the door to see a rather nervous blonde stood there.

“Hi.”

“Emma, hey.”

“I got your invite, I wasn’t going to come but, Alex told me I should.”

“I’m glad you came. It’s been a while.”

“Two years, yeah, well I went travelling and didn’t really come back that much.”

“I know, Al told me.” Regina looked her up and down, she looked pretty different, her hair was now chopped to above her shoulders and her makeup was somehow different, the only similarity was that red leather jacket she never seemed to lose. It was then that she noticed the girl standing next to her, “you brought someone?”

“Yeah, your invite said… I hope that’s okay,” she glanced at the girl, well, woman who offered her a reassuring smile. “Anyway, this is Lilly, she’s my girlfriend.”

“Well, it’s wonderful to meet you, Lilly,” Regina beamed at the woman who was a similar height to Emma with dark hair in a ponytail, she had dark brown eyes and freckles scattered over her cheeks and nose. “I’m…”

“Regina, I guessed,” the girl chuckled, “nice to meet you too. Just so you know she’s not obsessed with you any more.”

“Lilly,” Emma hissed, making the girl chuckled.

“What, it’s true isn't it?”

“Yes but…”

“Well then, let’s go give the baby her gift shall we?”

“Yeah, I guess… urm…”

“Come in,” Regina laughed, pushing the door open further to allow them past, Lilly clearly wasn’t nervous about anything and Regina had a feeling that would be good for Emma. She disappeared into the sitting room leaving the two of them alone in the hallway.

“Cute house,” Emma stated, running her fingers through her hair, only for them to fall out of the bottom, Regina remembered that she used to do that when she was nervous about something.

“Don’t worry, I forgave you a long time ago.”

“How did you know that was what I was thinking?”

“I know you, Emma Swan. Trust me, we’re fine and seemingly you’re better than fine. She’s beautiful.”

“She really is!” Emma grinned, her eyes twinkling a little at the mention of her girlfriend.

“I’m happy for you.”

“Thanks,” she stated shyly, “I can’t believe I haven’t met your baby yet.”

“Oh my god! You haven’t! Come on,” she grabbed her arm and pulled her into the sitting room where everyone was talking as normal. She’d already talked about inviting Emma, but she’d just thought she wouldn’t want to come, seemingly she had been wrong, but it was nice to see her. “Sorry Al, can I have my daughter back please?”

“Moma! Look, Ariel!”

“Oh cool,” she chuckled as she looked at the Ariel doll in her daughter’s hands, “Heidi, this is one of Moma’s friends, would you like to say hello?”

“Hello,” Heidi said briefly before picking up something else, “this Moannnna! And, Rapunzilla.”

“Oh they are really cool,” Regina nodded before lifting her up from Alex’s knee, making her drop one of the dolls.

“Moma! Fallen!”

“It’s fine, look,” Emma smiled, picking up the toy and handing it back to Heidi, who took it with a smile and a small “tank you.” “Those dolls look awesome. It's nice to meet you, Heidi.”

“Hi.”

“She is so adorable,” the blonde quipped, “I got her a gift, can I…”

“Of course, thank you,” Regina agreed, sitting down on the floor with Heidi on her knee, Emma copied her and Lilly handed her the present. “Sweetie, look, Emma has brought you a present, isn’t that nice.” 

“For me?” she asked, her blue eyes widening as she looked at the gift, her little hands reaching out to touch the paper, “tank you,” she smiled, “moma look, giraffe!” Heidi squealed happily as she pointed at her favourite animal that adorned the wrapping paper in cartoon form. 

Regina chuckled at her, trust Heidi to be more interested in the wrapping paper than what was inside it. She rubbed her hand over her daughter’s back, straightening the yellow spring dress she was wearing. She glanced up at Emma, watching her watch Heidi as she fought to open the paper so she could get to the present. It was nice to see her interact with Heidi, it felt like it had been forever since they saw each other and it was about time she met her daughter.

“Moma look! Dumbo!”

“Oh yeah,” Regina smiled as she saw the stuffed toy her daughter took from the wrapping.

“I knew Dumbo was your favourite as a kid, I don’t know if you already got her one but…”

“I hadn’t actually, thank you, it's beautiful and I’m sure she loves it,” she felt herself welling up a little and she didn’t know why. Maybe she had just missed Emma more than she thought, even if during the last two years of school they had been arch enemies.

“You’re welcome.”

“It’s nice to have you back.”

* * *

When everyone was gone and all the mess had been tidied away, Regina, Robin and Heidi slumped on the couch watching Pocahontas, who was quite easily Heidi’s favourite Disney princess, with Ariel coming in a close second. Regina was laid back against Robin and had Heidi leaning against her with chocolate cake on her face and kept trying to reach it with her tongue.

“Look at you messy,” Regina chuckled, running her fingers through her curls and taking out the yellow bow.

“So, it was nice that Emma came today,” Robin quipped, pressing a kiss to her shoulder.

“Yeah, it was good to see her again. I was also thinking about a few things today,” she whispered, looking over one of her shoulders before turning around on the couch and placing Heidi down next to her. “When I was talking to Lacy and Tink, I realised that I still really want to go to Uni and get my degree.” She admitted, it hadn’t really been something they talked about, Robin had just gone to college whilst she stayed home with Heidi, that had been her decision, but they hadn’t talked about her going again in the future.

“Of course you can, but Heidi…”

“I didn’t mean now, I just meant at some point I would like to go.”

“Whatever you want to do, I’ll support you one hundred percent, you know that,” he reassured, pressing a soft kiss to her lips, “we're in this together, you and me,” he nuzzled his nose against hers, “always.”

“You, me and our little madam.”

“Moma, daddy,” Heidi called out as though her ears were burning knowing that her parents were talking about her. She crawled back onto her mother’s lap and squished her little body between the two of them before sprawling out across them. “Watch movie.”

“We are watching the movie,” Robin laughed, looking down at her and stroking her hair gently. “Did you have a good birthday sweetheart?”

“Yep, it was so cool!”

“God, you can tell she’s been talking to Zelena,” Regina chuckled, “do you know what I think you need Heidi?”

“What?” she asked looking up innocently.

“Birthday kisses from Mommy and Daddy.”

Heidi giggled and held onto them both as they leaned in and pressed kisses to their daughter’s face and told her how much they loved her. 


	12. Monsters in the Closet

"Mommy! Mommy!"

Heidi's screams jolted Regina awake from what had been a peaceful sleep, she shook her head and rubbed her eyes, reluctant to get out of her warm cosy bed. "It's your turn."

"I don't think so," Robin groaned.

"Robinnnn, it's your turn, I went last night."

"She's calling for you, sorry love, I just don't think I'll be able to comfort her like you can," Robin mumbled and buried his head in the pillow. She scoffed and lightly smacked him round the back of the head before sleepily climbing out of bed and shuffling to her daughter's room. It was the third night in a row they had been woken up by their daughter crying and she was really starting to feel it. She had no clue how she used to manage when Heidi was a small baby.

She felt her way along the walls down the landing to her daughter's bedroom in the dark, stepping on a discarded toy in the process, "bloody hell," she winced cradling her foot as she bent down to pick it up and finding it to be a building block. Why was it that whenever Robin would play with their daughter, he was incapable of putting the toys away?

"Mommy! Momma!"

"I'm coming baby," she called, pushing the door open and flicking the light on, having to allow her eyes to adjust to the bright light assaulting them. Once they were okay with the brightness she looked to her little girl, seeing that she was all red-faced and teary-eyed. "I'm here, hey," she cooed, moving over to the bed and perching on the edge allowing her daughter to crawl into her arms, "shh, it's okay, don't cry."

"Monster momma."

"It was just a bad dream darling, there are no monsters here," Regina whispered, moving to lay down in her daughter's bed with the little girl resting on her chest, "I promise you."

"There momma, in there," she whimpered, pointing to the wardrobe before burying her head against Regina's shoulder, "I saw momma, in there."

"Sweetie, that's just your closet, there aren't any scary monsters in there, only clothes."

"Hides," she argued, "monster hide."

"Shall we go look?"

Heidi's eyes widened as she shook her head in fierce opposition to the idea. The past few nights she had been having nightmares, but she hadn't been worried about something being in her room before and normally went back to sleep after a little reassurance. This time seemed different though, she didn't look like she would be going back to sleep anytime soon.

"Okay, how about, you stay in your bed and I look."

"No momma! Stay," she squealed, grabbing onto Regina's hand as she made to stand up, "stay."

"Baby, I want to show you that there isn't anything to be scared of, your closet only has clothes inside I promise."

Heidi curled into the pillow as Regina moved her back onto the bed so that she would be able to stand up, she needed to prove to Heidi that there was no need to be worried, she wanted to quell her fear. Once she reached the wardrobe, the girl's crying became louder again and she sighed before pulling the doors wide open to peer inside, confirming that there were no hidden ghouls lurking. "See Heidi there's nothing to worry about, you're…" upon turning to look at her daughter she found only a lump underneath the duvet.

"Heidi, look, nothing there. You're fine, I promise you. Do you think your momma and daddy are going to let anyone or anything hurt you?" Regina asked, moving over to the bed and rubbing her hand over the Heidi shaped bump. "Darling, please come out. When does momma ever break her promises? Hmm?"

"Could've moved," came the muffled response.

She had to hand it to her daughter, she was persistent when she wanted to be, "monsters aren't real and they can't come into children's bedrooms."

"Why not?"

"Because, even if they were real, they would be scared of mommies and daddies, do you know why?"

"Why?" Heidi whispered, peeking her head out of the quilt to look at her mother.

"Because mommies and daddies protect their babies, they chase away the monsters and bad dreams. My mommy used to scare off monsters for me all the time," Regina quipped, brushing her fingers through her daughter's messy raven locks. "Do you know what always made me feel better after a bad dream?"

"What?"

"Snuggling up in mommy and daddy's bed," Regina grinned. They didn't make a habit of allowing Heidi to sleep with them now that she was older, but every now and then it wasn't so bad to have her with them and she felt that it would be easier tonight than trying to persuade her to sleep in her own room. If it meant that Regina could get back to sleep then she would do just about anything. "Also, we should go and annoy daddy for him not coming to check on you. Naughty daddy."

"Why daddy no come?"

"Because daddy is sleeping, but he could have woken up couldn't he instead of making mommy do it."

"Bad daddy?"

"Hmm," Regina chuckled, scooping her little princess up into her arms and kissing her cheeks, "so then, shall we go to sleep?"

"Yes," Heidi nodded, resting her head against her shoulder, her little eyes drooping as Regina carried her, making sure to avoid the blocks on her way back to the master bedroom.

"Did you get her to go back to sleep?" Robin groaned from where his face was still smushed into his pillow.

"Not exactly," Regina quipped, placing the little girl directly onto his back before climbing into her own side of the bed and pulling the covers over herself, "she wanted her daddy too."

"Hello angel," he greeted, his voice husky from sleep. He reached to moved her gently in between them before lifting his head from the pillow so that he could look at her. "What was wrong baby?"

"Monster," she whispered worriedly, each of her hands grabbing onto her parents.

"Monsters aren't real," he stated.

"I did try to tell her that," Regina yawned, closing her eyes as her fingers stroked comfortingly across her daughter's back. "Heidi is going to sleep with us tonight, aren't you sweetie."

"Yup, sleep with momma and daddy," she nodded, her little eyes fluttering shut as she was lulled to sleep by her parents.

Regina opened her eyes to meet Robin's, "something tells me that tomorrow you are going to have to come up with something to prove to her that there are no monsters in that closet. Do whatever you have to do because if she cries again tomorrow night, you will be the one getting up to comfort her."

"Regina…"

"I'm serious Robin. Now get your thinking cap on."

"Ghostbusters."

"What?"

"That'll work."

"I have no clue what you are talking about."

"I can pretend to catch all the monsters and get rid of them."

"Right, if you think that will work, then we will try it, but right now I really need to catch up on some sleep."

Luckily the plan did work and getting their own parents on board with the idea definitely helped. Heidi wouldn't be seeing any more scary monsters in her closet, but that didn't mean that there wasn't going to be the odd nightmare waking up the whole house in the middle of the night. The next time that happened Regina pretended to be asleep, making Robin deal with the crying toddler. Sleep was precious and this time it was definitely his turn.


	13. Is This Weird?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is hella smutty! Probably nearing to be the smuttiest thing I have ever written, if you don't like smut I'd skip if I were you. Thanks for reading! Enjoy!

Regina drank the last of her drink and placed the glass down on the coffee table before turning to look at Robin. He was sat beside her on the couch watching TV. They'd put Heidi down a couple of hours ago and she had been sleeping soundly ever since. All-day Regina had been feeling strangely turned on and she couldn't even work out why it was.

They had all spent the day together doing various different things, but Robin had been touching her quite a lot, it was innocent brushes of the hand and a soft touch now and then to the base of her back, but it had been enough to work her up and now she was horny. She wished she'd dropped Heidi off at her parents, but she hadn't really allowed her brain to go that far into processing what she was feeling.

"Is it just my imagination or are you staring at me?" Robin asked, glancing away from the television for a second to meet her eye.

"I might be," she shrugged, before tucking her hair behind her ear and reaching out to run her hand over his upper thigh in a way she hoped was seductive. She knew how to seduce him, they had been dating for years, it was just they seemed to be having a little bit of a dry patch at the moment and she was certainly wanting to spice things up a little when it came to the bedroom. "Can I let you in on a secret?"

"Go on then," he chuckled, finding the remote and flicking off the TV before turning to look at her properly.

"I've been feeling quite worked up all day," she whispered, her voice affected by the heat between her legs and her increased heart rate. She really did want him quite desperately.

"In what way? Are you feeling okay? Have I done something to…"

"Robin! I mean turned on."

"Oh! Oh, good, well, that's… thank god, I thought you were gonna be pissed at me for something."

"No, is there something I should be pissed at you for?"

"Not that I can think of no, that was why I was a little confused."

"Although now you mention it, this is your fault, you and your wandering hands."

"I could allow them to wonder a bit further if you'd like," he grinned, wiggling his eyebrows at her in a way that just made her laugh at him. He was adorable when he tried to be sexy, not that he wasn't sexy because he was, it was just a different type of sexy, he was also really cute at the same time.

"Hmm, I think I might like, but Heidi."

"Regina, if Heidi has to be out of the house every time we have sex, we are never going to be able to do it," he groaned, "couldn't we just try to be really quiet? We could make it into some kind of a game. I mean she sleeps like the dead anyway so it wouldn't even matter if we did make noise."

"That's true, anyone would have thought you were desperate or something."

"It's been a while not going to lie."

"God, I know, I was beginning to feel as though I might have dried up down there."

"Eww."

"Robin," she glared before punching him playfully and standing from the couch. "Do you know where we haven't been in a while though?"

"Where?"

"The treehouse. Do you remember when we would hang out up there and just get it on?"

"Of course, I remember that. I miss doing that."

"Me too," she sighed before glancing at the clock on the mantelpiece, it was nine o'clock and she could hardly call her mother and ask her to come to babysit so late, she didn't want her to know what she and Robin would be getting up to. Shaking her head, she grabbed her phone from the arm of the couch and dialled someone else, the phone rang for a moment before the other person picked up. "Hey, would you be able to come over and watch Heidi for an hour or so, I know its short notice but…"

"What, right now?"

"Yeah, I was just wondering, if not there's no bother."

"Why do you need a sitter at nine o'clock?"

"Look, are you willing to come over or not?"

"If you smuggle me a couple of brownies from the bakery tomorrow you've got a deal."

"Yes! Thank you so much, you have no idea how much I need this," Regina grinned, turning to Robin with a smirk before ending the call and placing her phone back down again. "We just got ourselves a sitter."

Fifteen minutes later after grabbing all the stuff they might need, there was a knock on the door. In the time it had taken to get ready Regina had managed to somehow get even more worked up than she had previously and it had been beginning to get uncomfortable. She rushed to the door and opened it to find her sister leaning against the wall, "hi, thank you so much for coming over," Regina gushed, hugging the redhead briefly before pulling back, "is Alex not with you?"

"Night shifts," Zelena huffed with a roll of her eyes. "Anyway, I don't mind coming over to take care of my favourite niece."

"Your only niece."

"Doesn't mean that she isn't my favourite," she grinned.

"Fine," Regina chuckled, glancing into the kitchen at the chill bag she'd left on the counter before calling for Robin. He came down almost straight away and nodded to Zelena in thanks.

"So why is it that you need a sitter so late?"

"We just wanted to get out of the house for a couple of hours that's all. Maybe go for a drink."

"Okay, and you need all that to go for drinks?"

"These are just things I'm leaving in the car for tomorrow that's all."

"Sure they are, act like you're not going to hook up somewhere."

"Zelena!" Regina huffed, pulling her shoes on as she balanced against the wall, trying to keep her brown duffel coat pulled down as she did so. "We'll be back soon."

"Take your time, I don't sleep properly without Alex anyway. I need her with me, I know it sounds ridiculous."

"No, it sounds familiar," Regina chuckled, taking Robin's hand in her own, "thanks again Ze."

"No problem, now get out of here!"

* * *

Five minutes later Robin pulled up outside his parent's house and parked the car before they both got out. They laughed like naughty schoolchildren who were doing something they knew they shouldn't be as they made their way towards the area of woods that lined the far end of Robin's back yard. It felt like a lifetime had passed since they had been out here and Regina could feel the thrill of it running through her.

Once they reached the clearing that surrounded the treehouse, she noticed how overgrown it had become in their absence. The fire pit around which they'd thrown Jefferson's eighteenth birthday party had been overgrown with weeds and grass. They had accidentally neglected a place that had once been very special to them, but the thing was, they just didn't have the time to make sure that it was kept nice anymore, they hardly had any free time whatsoever.

"We need to come out here more often," she sighed as they climbed up the ladder to the treehouse. She prayed that there weren't any creatures hiding in there and wished that she had let Robin go ahead of her. Once inside the space, she flicked on a couple of the battery-operated lanterns and glanced at the bean bags that were scattered around. It brought back a lot of memories and she turned to smile at Robin who was rummaging around in a bag he'd brought with him.

"So, I brought some blankets from home because these ones have been here years and I do not trust them," he chuckled lying down a few on the ground before sitting down and looking up at her.

"You just going to sit there?" she asked with a grin, coming to kneel next to him before straddling his lap in one swift move, her hair resting over one shoulder as she did. "I thought we'd come out here for something else." Her lips were millimetres away from his own as she stared into his eyes, her hands rubbing over his back and finding the hem of his shirt.

"Oh yeah, I remember now," Robin grinned before moving his lips closer, brushing them gently across her in a feathery caress. It didn't take long for the embrace to deepen and the kiss to turn sensual, prompting Regina to rub herself against him through their clothes.

"Would you like to take my coat off?" she asked into his mouth as their noses nudged together playfully.

"It's going to be a long night if we're taking it one by one," he chuckled, his fingers beginning to undo the buttons on her trench coat, not yet knowing what was underneath.

She felt her stomach begin to do summersaults, she knew what she wanted and had decided that tonight would be a good night to ask for it, but she just felt weird doing so. Since Heidi was born, they had been sticking to pretty normal sex whenever they could get it, any type of kink they might be into had gone completely out of the window and Regina missed experimenting and playing around in the bedroom, or in this case, the treehouse.

Once he had finished undoing the coat, he slipped it off her shoulders and tossed it to the side. What she hadn't told him before was that she was completely naked underneath and it had been her only item of clothing. She sat there on his lap, completely bared to him and he couldn't take his eyes off her, he was staring at her pretty intensely and it was turning her on even more. That wasn't even possible because she felt as though she might burst and that was before even asking for what she wanted to ask him for.

"Fuck you're gorgeous," Robin groaned, his hands running over her body, fingers caressing her waist and then her hips which were still chunkier than they had been before she had Heidi. Yet again another matter of not finding the time to work out. She quite liked her shape the way it was and it was safe to say that Robin seemed to love her body even more than he had before. Her boobs were still quite a bit bigger as well, even though she'd stopped breastfeeding months ago, that was something she was grateful for. "You are the most beautiful woman in the world."

"You have to say that."

"I mean it! Regina god, you're just… I want to eat you out right now. I need to taste you so badly."

She chuckled and shook her head; she appreciated his enthusiasm and she couldn't complain when it came to him wanting to please her. He was always first to offer up his services and give her orgasms, she could have sworn he enjoyed that more than he enjoyed his own. "As much as I would love that, there is something that I was wanting," she whispered, looking down at his chest and playing with his shirt, deciding that it was unfair he still had clothes on whilst she was naked. She pulled the shirt up over his head and threw it in the same direction he had her coat. "I don't really know how to…"

"What is it?"

"I don't want you to judge me, or think it's weird, it's just something that I was wanting to try I guess." His fingers rubbed over her hips in a silent encouragement for her to carry on with her plan. Wordlessly she moved over to the bag she had brought with her from home before rejoining him on the blankets. She handed it to him and waited for him to open it and look at the contents, once he had she knew it would be quite apparent what it was she was wanting.

He unzipped it and glanced inside, his eyes widening a little before moving to meet hers, "seriously?"

"Hmm. You don't think it's weird, do you?"

"Weird? No, it's hot Regina, totally hot. Well, cold, but you know what I mean."

She chuckled and shook her head at him, "I would also like you to tie me up," Regina quipped, grabbing some of the restraints she had also chucked into her bag. "I want you to use that ice on me until I beg you to stop and even then, don't stop until I use the safe word, which is still apples isn't it?"

"Yeah. Fuck me. You've planned all this out haven't you."

"Kind of," she shrugged, "I thought we could mix things up a bit like we used to. I want you to fully dominate me, take control."

"I think I might enjoy this," he grinned, taking the ropes from her and getting to work.

Ten minutes later she found herself fully bound by the ropes, he'd really done a number on her and she wondered where on earth he'd learnt that. In the past he had simply bound her wrists and ankles, now she had rope covering her. It was wrapped around her chest and her legs, her arms were bound and she was shocked at just how tight he had tied it, but it was turning her on to no end.

"Do you know what I think might be missing?" he asked as he pulled on the rope that ended around her stomach.

"What?" she whispered, glancing down at his handiwork, thoroughly impressed with what he had done.

"A blindfold," he quipped, placing one over her eyes.

A shudder ran through her as she nodded in agreement, he was right, a blindfold was a good idea. Deprivation of the senses always made things a lot more exciting. He left her side and she held her breath waiting for something to happen, she was on high alert and had no clue what he was about to do. The fact that he had her fully naked and at his mercy was a scary yet exhilarating thought.

All of a sudden, she felt the cold ice running down her body, he traced it gently over her skin, sending a shiver down her spine as she closed her eyes behind the blindfold. He moved it slowly down over her belly button and across her pubic bone, she couldn't help the little squeak she let out, it was cold, really cold, but it felt good, contrasted with the heat of her skin. Once he was within milometers of her clit, he moved it back up again, past her navel and up to her collar bone, his lips now following it, spreading a mixture of feelings through her.

Taking his time, he slipped the ice up her neck and she cocked her head to one side as it came over her jaw and then traced over her lips, seeming to almost freeze them as it went, then his lips were on hers in a bruising kiss whilst he moved the ice and laid it on her belly button. He deepened the kiss, his tongue running across her cold lips that had stiffened somewhat due to the frozen water. "Robin," she breathed against him.

"Shush, don't make a noise," he almost ordered, moving from her lips to kiss down her body, skimming over her collarbone and finding her nipple, suddenly she felt his mouth surround it, his tongue brushing over her and then the ice moved again, she knew where it was heading and also knew that she wouldn't be able to stop the noise she was going to let out once it got there.

As expected, he used it to circle her other nipple, causing it to harden even further, almost to the point where it was painful, as though it had frozen. His mouth then swapped to cover that one and the ice went over to the one he had been sucking on, causing her to gasp, she immediately regretted it as he held her down and ceased all stimulation.

"What did I say?"

"Not to make a noise," she whispered.

"And what did you do?"

"I made a noise," she sighed.

"Yes, you did, and I think you need to be punished for that."

"Punished?" she whispered hesitantly.

He clearly sensed her hesitance, he was good like that, it was something she admired him for, "do you trust me?"

"Yes, I do, you know I do," she nodded.

"Good," he kissed her before his hand moved down between her legs as he touched her for the first time since they had started this, rubbing her clit before dropping lower and playing with her entrance, "you're so wet, is this for me?" he asked.

"All for you."

"I thought so," he stimulated her clit more making her want to cry out, but she restrained herself, knowing that it would annoy him even more, not that she thought it was actually annoying him, he was just playing, that was all this was, it was roleplay, he didn't really want to punish her and she had to keep reminding herself of that, he would never hurt her, that was what she repeated to herself. "I think I need to taste you before I punish you."

All she could do in response was nod as she felt his nose push down over her stomach before his mouth enclosed around her clit and he sucked, flicking his tongue over it as he lapped at her. She tried not to moan at the feeling, but he was so incredibly talented with his mouth that she couldn't stop it. As soon as the noise left her lips, he dropped her clit and she knew he had sat up between her thighs. "Oh dear. Looks like someone is begging for that punishment."

She bit down on her bottom lip wanting to meet his eye but not being able to because of the blindfold, she was curious as to what he might come up with. They hadn't talked about any type of punishments when they had started playing, but she knew that Robin would respect the safe word if she chose to use it, which she didn't think she would be doing.

Before she had any more time to think she felt the ice back on her again, between her legs, rubbing against her pussy. "Robin," she moaned.

"Regina, you really are trying my patience," he scoffed, moving the ice away from her sex and up to sit inside her belly button. He left it there and ceased to touch her. She didn't know how long she was left lying there for with the ice melting against her skin, but all of a sudden, she was shocked by his warm mouth sucking up the watery puddle left on her stomach, his tongue flicking inside her belly button before pulling back. She wanted his mouth on her core and the tension was beginning to nag at her. She just needed some friction.

"I see what you're trying to do and it isn't going to work, you haven't even had your punishment yet," Robin tutted, stilling her restless hips with his hands, pinning her against the blankets below. All of a sudden her blindfold was removed and she was met with the view of his blue eyes staring down at her, "okay, pause just a sec. Are you still cool with this?"

"Fuck! Robin, seriously, did you just stop to ask that? I told you I know the safe word."

"I just wanted to check."

"Yes! I'm totally cool with this! Carry on and don't bloody stop again unless I say apples."

"Right, good, glad we're on the same page," he grinned, peering down at her and bopping his nose against hers, "love you, baby."

"Robin!"

"I'm getting to it," Robin chuckled, pulling her blindfold back down again.

"Good, I love you too," she huffed, trying to get back into the zone now he had gone and distracted her with his mushy lovey-dovey self. It didn't take long for her to get back to the point of being on edge waiting for him to do something. Before she knew it, the ice was back, he placed it in on her stomach once again and she was so focused on the sensation that she was caught off guard when he pushed an ice cube inside her core, drawing a loud gasp from her.

"I thought I told you to make no noise, seemingly you haven't been paying attention to my words," he huffed. His words were followed by a sudden tug at her bindings before he turned her over so she was lying on her front, before lifting her hips off the ground. As soon as she was on all fours, she felt his hot palm connect with her ass, the warm sting from the spank contrasting with the freezing cold ice cube that was melting inside her. She could feel the water beginning to drip from her sex, but the ice cube was still making its chilling presence known.

"How many do you think you have earned?" he asked, rubbing his fingers over her ass cheek, "not so vocal now are we?" Another sharp slap to her ass rang out through the silent treehouse and had her jolting forward. God she was so turned on, she needed him to fuck her, but she knew that the only way that was happening straight away would be if she were to use the safe word and that wasn't happening, not yet anyway.

"I think another eight or so should do the trick."

If she could have opened her eyes at that moment they would have widened, he'd never spanked her so many times. They usually got to around five before they both got too horny to carry on, so the prospect of eight making the total ten was a little concerning, she did want to be able to sit down the next day. She didn't speak though, didn't even make a noise as he spanked her yet again. She knew Robin wouldn't hurt her; he would always take care of her.

The cold feeling of ice was on her again, pressing against her clit, freezing it before moving to her entrance. Robin pushed it inside her, allowing it to join the now partially melted one already residing there. As soon as it was in position, his hand came into contact with her ass for the fourth time, this hand coming down on the opposite cheek to the previous three.

Robin continued with this pattern, spanking her, teasing her with the ice, pushing the ice inside her. Spank. Tease. Inside. Spank. Tease. Inside. It was working her up into a frenzy and she was beginning to feel quite full down there, despite the ice melting inside her. She was absolutely soaking wet, not just from the ice cubes but from how turned on she was feeling.

On the ninth spank, she felt her pussy clench around the ice cubes that were completely filling her sex. As soon as she felt another ice cube brush over her ass cheek she'd had enough, "apples!" she breathed, "apples Robin!" He dropped the ice right away before moving up her body and pulling the blindfold from her eyes.

"Are you okay," he asked, cupping her cheeks gently.

"I need to come! Robin please, I need your cock," she moaned.

His hands caressed her waist and across her thighs before he rubbed her backside with one hand and moved his other to seek out her arousal, circling her clit. She felt him grasp his cock and run it through her folds, making sure that he was coated in her wetness, brushing her clit with his tip as she moaned into the pillow, hoping to muffle it from him, but failing as she felt him spank her again, just resulting in another moan.

Once he was slick from her arousal and the last of the ice cubes had melted, she felt the tip of his cock lined up with her entrance and suddenly he thrust inside her all at once, filling her to the hilt and earning a proper cry of pleasure from her. "Oh god!" there was another spank causing her to clench around him, she was so close and all he had done was work her up, he hadn't even really moved inside her or touched her clit all that much. "Robin, please!" At this he pulled out and thrust back into her, knocking her forward as her walls tightened around him again.

His arm came around her and he held her tight allowing him to thrust in and out of her at a pace that was a lot more satisfying for the both of them, rocking his hips against hers. His other hand slipped between her legs as he played with her clit, continuing to pump into her hot wet core, them both of them making noises of satisfaction as he did. She closed her eyes and relished in the feeling, this angle was perfect, it made sure that he hit her G-spot just right and had her moaning loudly, "oh god Robin!" He administered another slap to her ass, causing her eyes to roll back, that was it, that was exactly what she had needed. "Ooooh yes!"

"Are you close?" He groaned against her, picking up the pace of his thrusts, clearly not caring about her making any noise. On one particular thrust, she felt so much pleasure that she almost screamed, letting out little whimpers as her arms buckled and she held herself up on her forearms her head buried into the pillow, her ass raised even further.

"So fucking close!" she cried, "I'm gonna come! I am!"

"Good, cos I don't think I can hold it any longer. You're so beautiful, I love you so much!" his pace increased and he found her clit again, rubbing her in just the way he knew she liked, in just the way he knew made her come undone, made her scream his name as her orgasm crashed down on her, this time wasn't any expectation. She came around his cock, clenching onto him as though she needed him inside her, she could hear his noises of pleasure as she succumbed to everything but the way she was feeling. Her legs were like jelly and they trembled and he carried on, still not having come yet, she was becoming extra sensitive and she really needed him to come inside her before she had to push him away.

"Robin," she purred and that was all it took, his grip on her tightened and his whole body stiffened as he came inside her with a loud shout. She collapsed onto her stomach trying to catch her breath as he pulled out of her and dropped to the side. "Holy shit," she breathed.

"I know," he chuckled, his hands brushing over her back as he lowered his mouth to kiss across her shoulder, "that was amazing."

"So amazing," she nodded, trying to turn but not quite managing because of the restraints on her arms, "could you maybe untie me?"

"Yeah! Sorry," Robin agreed, his hands moving to the ties that bound her limbs together. She could feel a dull ache in her arms and legs, it was the thoroughly fucked numbness, she felt as though she wasn't going to be able to move. As soon as she was fully untied, Regina rolled into Robin's arms, resting her head against his should. "I can't believe how good that was," she breathed, "thank you for indulging my fantasy."

"God, if you have any more fantasies like that let me know straight away," he chuckled, wrapping his arms fully around her and pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

Regina hummed and buried her face further against him, inhaling his scent. They relaxed like that for a few moments before she stretched in his arms, "we should be getting home. Zelena will be waiting," she groaned, pressing a light kiss to his shoulder as she sat up.

"Hmm, we need to try and do this more often, get away for a few hours."

"Oh definitely."

Two hours after they left Robin pulled into the driveway and they climbed out, snuggling close to one another as they pushed the front door open. "Where have the two of you been?" Zelena asked with a grin as she peered at them from where she was sat on the couch. "Looks like you had fun anyway," she chuckled, standing up and winking at them.

"We did, thank you so much for sitting for us. We really needed the time together."

"Well, you're welcome. I'll babysit for you guys anytime, just ask."

"Thanks, Ze," Regina grinned.

"By the way, you stink like sex."

"Zelena!"

The redhead let out a loud cackle as she shook her head and winked at her. "I'll catch the two of you later! Night!"

"Night Ze."

Once Zelena was gone Regina turned to Robin and grinned at him, "she is right, I think we do both smell like sex. Race you to the shower?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You're on!" he laughed, racing off in front of her.

"Robin that's cheating!" she chuckled, running up the stairs after him and towards a sinful yet relaxing shower.


	14. Family Photo

"Robin! Is she ready to go?" Regina shouted from the bedroom as she fixed her diamante studs in place. She checked her reflection in the full-length mirror and nodded before leaving their room and moving into Heidi's seeing Robin trying to get a little clip into her curls.

The little girl just kept trying to steal it from him and giggled every time he heaved a sigh at her, "come on Heidi, mommy is waiting for us." This just made her laugh even more as she turned her head and spotted her mother stood in the doorway.

"Mommy!" she squealed happily, reaching out for her.

"Hey miss, are you being cheeky with your daddy?" Regina tutted, coming closer to them and taking the clip from Robin's hand as they shared a look and he stood back in defeat. To be honest, he hadn't done a bad job, she was fully dressed and it seemed as though the clip was the last part of the look before it was completed.

"No," she shook her head trying to look all innocent and Regina heard Robin scoff from behind her.

"I swear she gets cheekier every day."

Regina grinned at him and put the clip in her daughter's hair without any struggle, she knew that the little girl played up for her daddy. She liked to be playful with him and Robin was quite an easy target for her teasing. "Right, are we ready to go now?"

"Mhmmm, where we go mommy?"

"We're going to have some photos taken sweetie," she smiled, scooping up her daughter and carrying her downstairs. Her mom had organised a family photoshoot for the three of them as a treat, Regina had been wanting some professional pictures and she couldn't wait to get some that she could properly frame.

"Why?"

Regina chuckled as she slipped her shoes on before heading out the door and waiting for Robin to lock up, "well, mommy and daddy want some nice pictures of us all to put up on the wall."

"Oh," she shrugged, the Dumbo toy Emma had given her was clasped in her hand and bounced against Regina's back as she walked. As it turned out the two-year-old was very fond of the stuffed elephant and had barely put it down since she had been given it.

Regina strapped her into her car seat before hopping into the passenger side next to Robin. "Okay then, let's do this."

* * *

They pulled up in the parking lot of the studio and Regina was a bit shocked by how big the building actually was, part of her had been expecting something small. "Heidi, have you been practicing your best smile?" Robin asked, turning to look at their daughter who was smiling at them with her sparkly little baby teeth on show. Robin sniggered and shook his head before climbing out of the car and moving around to get her out.

Regina bit down on her bottom lip as she followed suit and they walked towards the entrance, "mommy when see granna?"

"You want to see grandma?"

"Uh huh," she nodded, walking carefully beside her parents as her tiny legs navigated towards the door. Regina decided it would be quicker to pick her up and was wishing she'd thought to bring her pushchair. "Miss granna." Heidi huffed, burying her face into Regina's neck. Robin's parents had been on a cruise for little more than a week, but Heidi was used to seeing them almost every day, seemingly she wasn't happy with the change to her schedule.

"Well, grandma is on holiday with grandad okay? They'll be back soon though," she reassured, kissing the top of her daughter's head as they entered the building and gave the receptionist their details before sitting down in the waiting area.

"We have a play area if she wants to go check it out," the woman called over, gesturing to a room beside the one they were in. "We'll come and get you when it's your turn."

"That's great thanks," Regina nodded.

"I'll take her, you can sit here and chill out for a bit," Robin smiled, squeezing her hand before scooping up their little girl and heading off in search of the toys.

"You have a beautiful family," a woman sat opposite her complimented with a warm smile on her face.

"Thank you."

"How old is she?"

"She's two, but she acts as though she's older sometimes," Regina laughed, "do you have any children?"

"Hmm, two boys, ones seven and the other is five."

"Let me guess, it gets harder the older they get?"

"Something like that," the lady nodded, tucking her auburn hair behind her ear, "though I can't say what girls are like."

"Well Heidi is quite the mommy's girl, she normally behaves for me though not so much for her daddy."

"Locksleys'?" Regina turned her head to see a familiar face stood with a camera around her neck, "Regina Mills!"

"Hey Guinevere," she smiled, standing to hug the woman. She hadn't seen her in a couple of years, probably not since high school graduation.

"Wow, long time no see. You look amazing, and your hair is back! It's gorgeous."

"Thanks, you look great too. Are you working here?"

"Yeah, I'm on my placement year from college and I'm doing a photography course so here I am," she chuckled, "are you still with Robin?"

"I think you can probably tell that by the name you just called."

"Oh my goodness! Yes, does that mean you're married?" she asked, her eyes widening as she looked her up and down.

Regina shook her head, they might as well have been married but they weren't, not yet anyway, she was hoping that he might propose soon, she wanted to be his wife. She was ready to get married; it was a scary thing to say, but it was true. They'd done their relationship in the wrong order if they were honest. After caring for their baby together for two years and being together for three, they definitely knew that they were supposed to be together.

It was Robin's call though; she was waiting for the proposal.

"No, we're not married, not yet, but we've…"

"Mommy!" Heidi called as she came wobbling over to her at a fast pace, wrapping her little arms around her legs. "Daddy in ball pool," she squealed happily.

"Why does that not surprise me, hey?" she grinned, bending down to scoop her daughter up into her arms, "did you have fun in there sweetie?"

"Uh huh," the two-year-old nodded, "is fun."

"You have a daughter?" Guinevere asked, her eyes widened slightly as she looked from Regina to her baby in shock. Regina wondered how she didn't already know, she thought that most people in their old class knew about Heidi, she was hardly a secret. But then again, she hadn't really known what Guinevere was doing since they finished school, she didn't have her on any social media, maybe she had just missed it.

"Yeah, this is Heidi. Heidi, this is my friend Guinevere," she smiled. Heidi waved at the other brunette and Robin came up to them with his outfit all messed up. Regina rose an eyebrow at him and shook her head, "look at you now. Can't take him anywhere."

Guinevere laughed, "Robin."

"Hey! Sorry, I'm not usually this messy."

"Why do I not believe that?"

Robin huffed playfully, "so are we going to have this photoshoot then? I hate it when Gina makes me get all dressed up."

"Yeah, come on, this way," she smiled, leading them down a corridor. Regina followed on as Heidi played with her hair, trying to put it in her mouth. The other woman opened a door which led into a studio and the family moved inside.

"So, where do you want us?" Regina questioned, trying to stop Heidi from messing up her hair. "Oi, stop it monkey," she giggled, placing her down on the floor and letting her crawl over to the backdrop.

"Let's get some gorgeous family photos," Guinevere grinned, "I'd like you all in front of the screen and then we'll go from there."

* * *

After an hour or so the photo shoot was over and they had got some beautiful family photos. Regina was so happy and had ordered three printed onto a canvas, one for them and the others for their parents. She also ordered a photo book for them to keep and another couple of larger prints that she wanted to put up in their bedroom. Heidi had asked if she could have one for her room as well and who was she to deny her daughter.

Once that was over, they went to the mall for some food and to do a little bit of shopping. It was only once they were home that Heidi had burst into tears. Regina heard her from the kitchen and hurried into the sitting room, finding her sobbing against Robin. "What happened?" she asked in a panic. "Heidi baby, what's wrong?"

"She lost Dumbo," Robin stated, wincing as he said it.

"Oh no."

"Mommy Dumbo gone! Lost," she cried, burying her face into Robin's chest as her little hands clung to his shirt.

"Robin get your car keys."

"Seriously? You want to…"

"Robin."

"Okay, fine," he rolled his eyes, handing their crying daughter to Regina. "Can't I just go buy her a new one?" he whispered.

"No, come on. Go to the studio first, please?"

"It's a good job I love the both of you," he huffed, kissing her lightly before pulling back to look at Heidi, "Daddy is gonna go find Dumbo okay?"

"I come! Look too."

"Fine lets all go," Regina groaned as they all piled back into the car. She opted to sit in the back with Heidi and help to quell the tears that were still falling, coming out in broken sobs as she hiccupped and held onto Regina's fingers for comfort, her little fingers wrapped tightly around her mother's hand. "I bet you left it in that blasted ball pool didn't you," she sighed.

"Probably to be honest," Robin laughed.

"You think making your daughter cry is funny?"

"No."

"You better not," she tried to stop the smile from coming onto her face, she knew it wasn't the fact Heidi was crying that made him laugh, more the fact that he was a twenty-one-year-old who had been in a ball pool earlier that day. "Heidi, we're gonna find him, okay."

They pulled up in the parking lot for the second time that day and found Guinevere coming out of the building, locking the door behind her. "Guinny! Wait."

"Hey, Regina, what's up?"

"Heidi lost her teddy. Do you mind if we have a look inside? Please, I promise it won't take long."

"Sure, come on," she unlocked the door once again and let them inside.

They headed straight to the playroom and Heidi retraced her steps, looking around where she had been. They still hadn't found the toy and Regina was beginning to panic, the last thing she wanted to do was trawl around the mall trying to find a teddy which could be anywhere, she'd rather go with Robin's idea and buy her a new one. Would she even know?

"Get in there," Regina ordered, pointing to the ball pool and looking at Robin.

"No."

"You've already been in there once, get in."

"No."

"I'm not going to ask you again, get in the ball pool."

She watched as a mischievous expression came upon his face and knew what that meant, she was in trouble now. She didn't have time to do anything about it because before she could think to run away, he'd hauled her into a fireman's lift and flung her into the ball pit.

"Robin!" she yelled, standing up in the pool and scowling at him. She heard giggling coming from across the room and looked over to see Heidi laughing at her, in fits of giggles. "Do you think this is funny madam?" Regina asked, raising an eyebrow at her daughter who simply laughed in response. Robin moved over to her and scooped her up off the ground and dropped her into the ball pool along with her mother. Regina scooped her into her arms, holding her against her.

It was then that a ball of grey fluff caught her eye in the corner and she prayed that it would be the toy they were looking for. It was past Heidi's bed time and the little girl should really be asleep by now. She waded through the coloured balls and grabbed the toy, lifting it up to reveal the lost Dumbo. "Look Heidi, look."

"Dumbo! Mommy you found him!" she squealed in excitement, reaching for the teddy and squishing it against her. "Thank you!"

Regina handed Heidi to Robin before pulling herself out, once Heidi was back in her own arms she reached out and caught Robin off guard, shoving him hard and making him fall into the pool himself. The three girls laughed as they walked away, leaving him complaining as he struggled against the balls to get out of the pit.


	15. Lipstick

Regina was super late; she had meant to drop Heidi off at her parents' house earlier so that she and Robin could attend his degree show opening. It was a fancy black-tie drinks thing at a gallery in Portland which was at least an hour's drive away. The whole day had been thrown off schedule by accidentally taking a nap with Heidi on the couch as they watched some kids program, the now three-year-old dozing off against her had made Regina sleep as well, only waking when Robin arrived home from work and startled them both.

"Robin! Have you seen my lipstick?" she called from the bathroom, rooting around in her makeup bag not knowing where else it could have possibly gone.

"Which one?" he asked, appearing at the door, putting cufflinks on his shirt cuffs.

"My usual red one."

"No, I haven't seen it."

"It was in here; I can't go without lipstick."

"Don't you have another?"

"Not one that will go with the dress," she groaned, shaking her head as she looked down at the red silky dress, she had taken ages to pick it out from the store earlier that week. "That one was perfect, I'm sure it was in here, I can't think that I would have put it anywhere else."

"What about in your bag?"

"Maybe," she sighed, spritzing a little of her perfume before heading towards her room, glancing into Heidi's bedroom to check on her as she passed, only to find that she couldn't actually see her daughter. "Heidi?" she called out, walking further into the room. "Robin do you know where Heidi… oh my god!"

"What, what is it… oh fuc… fudge."

"Heidi! What are you doing?" Regina asked, finding her daughter behind the lilac curtains covered from head to toe in red lipstick, it wasn't just on her pyjamas though, it was on the walls and the carpet too and Regina had to take a deep breath to calm herself down, she'd already been worked up and this just took the biscuit. "Is that mommy's?" she questioned in her stern mother voice.

"Uh huh," Heidi nodded, still trying to apply to the broken red lipstick to her lips, making herself look like a tiny little toddler clown. "I put mommy's paint on, to go with you to party," she grinned, her little white milk teeth showing as she presented them with her artistic skills, or lack of skills. "Look pretty like mommy."

"Baby, that's mommy's lipstick, not for children," Robin tried, cringing as he got closer and realised the extent of the damage. "Did you forget that you were going for a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's house?"

"No, don't wanna go. I come look at paintings with you," she nodded, smiling at her father before looking over at her mother and frowning. "Moma angry?"

"You shouldn't take mommy's things without asking Heidi. Look at the mess you made," she sighed.

Regina shook her head and walked away from the room, hurrying into her own and unzipping her dress before stepping out of it and quickly putting on some leggings and a shirt. Once she was changed, she went downstairs and grabbed the cleaning products before rushing upstairs and into Heidi's room.

"Give me that madam," she took the unsalvageable lipstick from her daughter's hands and tossed it in the bin. "Look at your bedroom and tell me what you did that was wrong?" Regina stated, trying not to be too firm with her daughter but knowing that she had to know that what she had done was wrong otherwise she wouldn't learn.

"I sorry, didn't mean to make mess. It was a oopsie." Regina looked at her daughter and took in her downcast blue eyes and all of her anger melted away, it was just impossible to stay mad at Heidi, you had to be heartless to still be mad at her after that.

"Okay, but you know not to play with mommy's things."

"Uh huh," she nodded quickly, wrapping her small arms around her mother, "where did the pretty dress go?"

"I have to make sure that this comes out of your carpet so it doesn't stain," Regina stated, running her fingers through her daughter's hair, only to find chunks of lipstick there as well, was there anywhere it hadn't gone? Her main concern though was the carpet. Walls could be painted over, carpets were harder to replace and much more expensive. "Right, Robin, give her another bath whilst I try and save this."

"I already had bath!" the little girl protested, "I said sorry. Don't want 'nother bath!"

"Heidi, you're covered from head to toe, you need a bath," Robin sighed, "come on." Regina watched as he shepherded her into the bathroom trying not to touch her, clearly worried about his suit coming into contact with the lipstick. They'd had issues before concerning a white shirt of his and her lipstick marks, though truthfully, they had come from more exciting ventures than a daughter covered in makeup.

She could hear her daughter grumbling all the way to the bathroom, still doing as her daddy told her though. She knew she was in trouble, but Regina had a feeling that she had meant well, she always did, it was just the outcome was never what she was expecting, bless her heart. Turning to the carpet she shook her head and got to scrubbing.

After around twenty minutes the walls were clean and all that was left on the carpet was a pinkish stain which she could live with, but they were late and she could tell that Robin was panicking when he ran into the room with Heidi wrapped up in her frog towel, the boggle eyes peering on top of her head covering her freshly washed curls. "Okay, one clean daughter here we go." He dropped her playfully on the bed and she landed with a bounce. "I don't think we are saving those pyjamas, to be honest."

"Never mind, I need to go get my dress back on, can you make sure she has everything? We're super late."

"We definitely are, thank you, Heidi," he scoffed, hurrying over to the chest of drawers to grab a fresh set of pyjamas to dress her in.

It was another ten minutes before they were all stood in the hallway, Heidi clinging to her Dumbo toy in one hand and her daddy's hand in the other. She had her dressing gown on and her fluffy slippers, "moma, you look pretty," she smiled.

"Thanks Heidi," she sighed with a playful eye roll, "you look ready for bed."

"Daddy says I have to stay with grandma and grandpa."

"Yes, you do and we're dropping you off right now."

"Okay."

Regina blinked and turned to look at her daughter, she was never okay with being left out of what they were doing so that reaction was a strange one. She guessed that it most likely stemmed from the fact that she knew she was already in trouble. "Good girl," Regina smiled, running her fingers through her daughter's hair gently, "right, in the car."

She scooped Heidi up and headed outside, leaving Robin to lock up as she secured the little girl in her car seat for the five-minute drive to her grandparent's house.

* * *

By the time they reached the venue they were a little late but hadn't done too badly for making up time. Regina had to borrow a lipstick from her mother, the situation had made her realise that she probably needed more than one of her favourite lipstick in the future for moments just like this one.

She was bursting with pride as she walked into the gallery, her hand secured tightly within Robin's. She knew he was nervous about the exhibition, about what people might think of his work, but she couldn't have been prouder of him. She'd seen bits of the collection, however, some of the pieces he had been working on at the university in the studio and she hadn't had a chance to get a sneak peek.

She bit her bottom lip as she looked at them, they were similar to his high school work, but so much stronger. Depicting their family, the three of them in a magical world. There were dragons and other creatures and it was breath-taking the amount of detail he had put into each piece. One in particular that caught her eye was a canvas depicting Heidi in a cute blue dress, pressing her little hand to the nose of a rather majestic looking Unicorn, that one was certainly going up in their house, no doubt about it.

Regina was stood looking at the pieces as Robin mingled around, talking to the people who had come to view the work. She had a flute of champagne in one hand as she took in all the details of one of the dragon pieces, this particular one was of Heidi staring into the eyes of a dragon, her hair blowing behind her.

"Pretty amazing aren't they," someone stated, coming up behind her.

She turned to see an older man approaching her and nodded, "they really are."

"You're the woman depicted in some of the pieces."

"That would be me, yes," she smiled, looking back at the work as he came to stand beside her.

"So you know the artist then?"

"You could say that yes, I'm his girlfriend."

"He obviously likes to paint you."

"He's been painting me since the moment we met," Regina chuckled softly, remembering the moment in the library when he had asked if he could draw her. She had been reluctant at first but when she saw the drawing he created she couldn't have been happier with it.

"So, do you model or…"

"No," she laughed, "no definitely not, Robin just likes to paint me as you said so I'll sit for him, but no, I don't model."

"You should, here's my card."

"Oh, I don't think…"

"Just take it, I know some people who are looking out for new talent."

"Talent?"

"Models." Regina reluctantly took the card from the man as Robin came up behind her, his arm wrapping around her waist. "You must be the artist."

"Robin Locksley," he nodded, shaking the man's outstretched hand before giving Regina a reassuring squeeze. "What are the two of you talking about?"

"I was just telling your girlfriend here that she should think about modelling. Oh, and I want to buy the entire collection."

Robin's eyes widened as he stared at the guy in shock, Regina looked up at him feeling her heart rate quicken, she didn't know what to think about it. In a way, it would be amazing for Robin, but for some reason, it unsettled her, the man was unsettling. "The ones of the little girl aren't for sale," she stated before Robin could even say anything. She didn't want strangers having paintings of her daughter in their house.

"Mr Locksley?"

"Uh, yeah. I'm sure we can sort something out, but Regina is right, the ones with the girl in them aren't for sale. Our daughter would kill me if I didn't let her keep them."

"Fine, how much are we talking? What's the price tag?"

"Well…"

"Come we'll find somewhere to sit and talk about numbers."

Robin nodded and gave Regina a look before following the man through the gallery, leaving her stood there feeling a little stunned. She turned back to the image before glancing down at the business card, Sydney Glass. Interesting. She wondered what he was going to do with ten paintings of her and Robin, that's how many there were without Heidi in them. How could anyone have enough room for ten paintings that size in their house? Unless they were fully redecorating or starting from scratch. The art world was a mystery to her.

Robin was gone for a while and she had walked around the gallery at least another ten times before he re-emerged looking very pale. She furrowed her eyebrows and made her way over to him as he stood leaning against the doorway, just staring into the room. "Robin."

He looked up and she saw how he took a deep breath before meeting her halfway. "What happened?" she asked, taking his hand gently.

"You won't even believe it, Regina," he breathed before laughing softly and shaking his head, "you won't believe how much he just offered me."

"How much?" she whispered prompting him to continue.

"65 thousand."

"What?" she almost squeaked as she stared at him, realising why he had been as shocked as he looked. "I think I must have misheard."

"He offered me 65 thousand dollars for the lot of them, minus the ones of Heidi."

"Fuck me, that's… that's insane!"

"I know!" he laughed, biting down on his bottom lip, "just think about what we could do with that money."

"Christmas is coming up and my god that would be helpful," she chuckled, it would be around thirty-five times what they currently had in their bank account, "you accepted right?"

"Uh yeah. When I made these, I never even considered selling them but, I couldn't pass that one up."

"Good! I would have been pissed if you had!" she laughed shaking her head at him, "I can't believe it. Congratulations!" she beamed, leaning in and pressing her lips to his, "I'm so proud of you, you know that? I wanted to tell you earlier but you were busy socialising."

"Thank you," he smiled, bumping his nose against hers, "I guess that also means we can afford to buy you a new lipstick."

"Oh wow, thank you," she giggled, kissing him again as she tried to come to terms with how that amount of money would be able to change their lives for the better.


	16. Disney Everywhere

**Time for some cute little lockdown moments. Enjoy.**

* * *

Disney. It had been Disney none stop, both Regina and Heidi singing along to film after film as they snuggled in the living room. The little girl hurrying off to get changed into a different outfit for each movie so that she matched the characters, for the outfits she didn't have she'd just come down in a fairy costume or something totally adorable like that. Robin had to say though, he was regretting the suggestion that they paid for Disney Plus during lockdown to keep Heidi entertained.

It had been almost three days of it now and he had no idea how they hadn't run out of films. They were currently watching The Little Mermaid and he peered in from the kitchen, watching as Regina did her best impression of Ursula, singing to Poor Unfortunate Souls and making their daughter howl in laughter. Regina knew all the words as she put on a performance for Heidi.

"Don't underestimate the importance of body language," she sang, wriggling playfully as their daughter giggled, her eyes on her mother instead of the film that was playing on the screen. Robin had to hold back his own laughter as he hid in the doorway watching them play around.

"Come on you poor unfortunate soul. Go ahead make your choice. I'm a very busy woman and I haven't got all day! It won't cost much. Just your voice! You poor unfortunate soul. It's sad but true. If you want to cross the bridge, my sweet you've got the pay the toll. Take a gulp and take a breath and go ahead and sign the scroll. Flotsam, Jetsam, now I've got her, boys the boss is on a roll. This poor unfortunate soul!"

"Beluga sevruga, come winds of the Caspian Sea. Larengix glaucitis, et max laryngitis, la voce to me. Now sing Heidi!"

The little girl was too busy laughing to sing like her mother had told her to, her head resting on the arm of the couch as she tried to catch her breath back.

"Hey I said sing Heidi!" Regina scoffed, lurching forwards to scoop her up, snuggling her close as they both chuckled, now the song was over they settled back into the sofa to finish watching the movie. Regina ran her fingers through their daughter's dark curls which were beginning to get extremely long, she'd been in need of a hair cut when they first went into lockdown, so now it was ridiculous. Regina's hair was also longer than she normally wore it, she'd also not been bothering to straighten out her wild curls, something Robin was eternally grateful for.

He had been painting in his studio all morning and was supposed to be organising lunch but they'd distracted him with their cuteness. He was sure that they'd been sat there the entire time he had been in the studio, however the dolls house in front of them could mean that they'd had a little play time spaced in there also. Grinning to himself as he listened to his girls talking about the movie from the kitchen whilst he got to work preparing something for them to eat.

* * *

He went about his job quietly, the sound of his girlfriend and daughter singing drifting through the rooms. He snuck through the house quietly, working on his little surprise for them, they were too busy watching the television to even notice him moving around. Once he was happy with the setup, he came back into the sitting room, making enough noise that the pair turned to look at him.

"Daddy! We're watching Ariel," Heidi hummed as she beamed at him. She now had a little bow in her hair, one he assumed she had Regina put in at some point.

"It's nearly finished," Regina chuckled, "then I'll make us something for lunch. How's your painting going?"

"It's good," he nodded, taking a seat beside them, his eyes falling to the screen. Regina was right, it was nearly finished, so he simply lounged on the couch, his head resting on his girlfriend's shoulder as he waited for the film to finish. It didn't take long for the end credits to roll, Heidi cheering at the happy ending as she jumped of the sofa and danced along to the closing music, Under the Sea playing through the speakers.

"I can't believe we made such a crazy child," Robin chuckled quietly as they sat and watch her wriggle her hips, doing some strange little moves. After a short moment of just watching her, he stood up and scooped her into the air, coaxing a loud squeal from her as she broke out into a fit of giggles when he started dancing with her in his arms.

"Mommy come on!" Heidi grinned, looking to her mother who was still sat down watching them in amusement. She grinned before hopping up and wrapping her arms around the pair of them, giving them a squeeze as they all danced together.

When the song was over Regina let go of them and tucked a strand of her uncontrolled curls behind her ear, "I better go get some food."

"Actually, that's already taken care of," Robin quipped. "Who wants a picnic?"

"Robin, we can't have a picnic," Regina sighed, they couldn't be outside for extended periods of time and only for exercise.

"Ah, that's not true though, come with me Princess Heidi, Queen Regina. Your picnic awaits," he grinned, leading the way through the house and to the double doors that lead out to the back garden. During lockdown Regina and Heidi had been gardening quite a bit, planting flowers and making sure it looked pretty despite its small size. It was certainly big enough for a picnic, spanning around ten meters squared.

Robin already had it set up, a tartan blanket laid on the grass with a plethora of different snacks and foods for them to eat. "Wow! Daddy!" Heidi squealed, running outside and finding a seat on the mat, looking at the different sandwiches, clearly mulling over which one she would pick first.

Regina looked up at him, a smile forming on her face as she wrapped her arms around his waist, her chin leaning on his shoulder, "you are the best, you know that right?"

"I have been told a couple of times," he grinned, looking down at her with his bottom lip between his teeth as she chuckled at him before giving him a playful shove and moving over to join their daughter on the picnic blanket.

"What sandwiches did daddy make Heidi?" Regina asked, crossing her legs as she poured a glass of lemonade for each of them, handing it to her little girl in a sippy cup so that she didn't spill it everywhere.

"Well, I can tell you," she smiled, standing from the mat and picking a little triangle sandwich from the basket taking a bite from it, "this one is jam," she stated, talking around the mouthful of bread and strawberry she had in her mouth, before putting the rest of the sandwich down on her plate and grabbing another, repeating her action with this one, "cheese." She kept going until she had four different types on her plate, with the addition of ham salad and chocolate spread. "That's' it," she beamed, sitting back down again and picking up the chocolate sandwich first. "This is my favourite."

"Oh, I'm sure it is," Regina chuckled, glancing over to Robin.

He knew that one would be Heidi's favourite, she was obsessed with chocolate and always asked for it on her pancakes or on anything really. "Heidi, you've got to have some of the fruit salad too," he suggested, wanting to make sure that she was having some healthy things as well.

"I will, you put strawberries in," she quipped her little eyes widening as she carefully picked one out using a spoon to balance it before allowing it to slide onto her plate. "And apples for mommy," steadily she continued to use the cutlery to scoop up the fruit, this time going for the apple and focusing on getting it from the salad bowl to her mother's plate. "There we go, fruit for mommy. Daddy, you want some?"

"Aww thank you baby, you should eat your own though, I can manage," he grinned at her cuteness as he took the spoon from her to give her a few more pieces of fruit before dishing some out for himself.

They ate happily, talking about different things, with both him and Regina making their daughter giggle constantly as she did the same with them. She would tell them little stories she made up, or pull funny faces at them, it was adorable. Not long after they finished eating Heidi began feeling sleepy, they could always tell by the way that her head nodded a little, both Robin and Regina knew that she was in need of her afternoon nap, but the hard part would be coaxing her into actually going to sleep, especially when they'd had such a fun morning.

"Right miss, how about we go take a little nap?" Regina asked as she gently wiped some chocolate spread from her daughter's face.

"Don't wanna nap," she murmured.

"Okay then, I suppose you'll just have to clean all this away then," Robin sighed, looking at the amount of work it would take to tidy up before glancing at the three-year-old sat opposite him. Her eyes widened as she shook her head.

"Nope, I don't clean all that up."

"Well, maybe you could go for a nap whilst we do it, then you don't miss anything fun, only boring cleaning," he suggested, shrugging his shoulders as he put a few of the items into the basket so they would be able to carry them inside.

"Can I stay on the sofa?" she asked, clearly not wanting to go upstairs to bed. To be honest it wasn't worth the hassle getting her upstairs when she was more than happy to have a little snooze on the couch. She wasn't napping for too long any more anyway, it was just an hour or so to re-energise when she felt tired.

"Sure," he nodded.

"Fine then," she huffed with a tiny eye roll that made her look just like her mother. Sometimes Robin couldn't get over how the two of them were so similar, Heidi seemed to copy her mother's mannerisms, she was getting to be a mini version of Regina more and more each day.

"Come on you, I can see your eyes closing," Regina chuckled, wrapping her arms around their daughter and lifting her up, "I'll just go put her down and then I'll come help you put things away," she smiled, offering him a half wink before disappearing inside the house.

He grinned to himself and shook his head as he finished off packing all of the things into the basket. It wasn't long before Regina re-emerged, sliding the door so it was half shut behind her before leaning against the glass. "So, she's sleeping."

"Good," he nodded.

"We probably have about an hour before she wakes up again."

His eyes widened as he looked at his girlfriend, he had to admit that they had been feeling it a little, normally Heidi would spend every other weekend at either of her grandparent's house, giving them one night every two weeks to just have a date night and act like any other young adults. However, being in lockdown meant that they were scrapped, they were fighting to just have a little solitary time together, but normally after a full day of chasing their daughter around and doing activities they were too tired to take advantage of the time Heidi was asleep. "Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?" he asked, swallowing heavily.

"I miss you," she whispered, moving closer, making him drop the basket he had been holding back onto the blanket and reach out to grab her, "seemingly I'm not the only one."

"God, it's been fucking torture seeing you with your hair looking so sexy and not being able to…"

"Fuck me?"

"Yeah, that," he chuckled, his lips skimming over the sensitive part of her neck, knowing that she would shudder each and every time when he kissed her there. In the back of his mind he knew it was probably not going to happen, it was too good to be true, having her in his arms. "What if she wakes up?"

"She's a heavy sleeper, like her father," Regina shrugged, her hands brushing over his shoulders before one made its way to the side of his face, caressing his cheek gently. "Let's just leave all this for later and go upstairs," she whispered, her breath ghosting over his lips as she spoke.

He couldn't resist leaning in and kissing her, capturing her lips with his own as his arms wrapped around her. He was about to deepen it when they heard giggling coming from the direction of the house, "thought you said she was asleep," he whispered.

"She was," Regina breathed, letting go of him as they both looked at their daughter who was stood in the doorway. "Heidi?"

"Were you having true loves kiss?" she asked innocently as she smiled up at them, "like Ariel and Prince Eric?"

"Later?" Robin whispered.

"Hmm," Regina sighed, moving back towards the door, "right you, come on, you were supposed to be sleeping."

"I couldn't fall asleep."

"You were asleep madam."

"Nope, I heard knocking at the door."

"The door?" Robin asked as he moved past the pair of them and made his way through the house, opening the front door to see a package on the floor, "thanks," he called out to the delivery guy, who just nodded in response. He couldn't remember ordering anything, except for a new batch of paints but they weren't coming until next week. "Babe, did you order anything?" he questioned, glancing over at Regina who was putting their daughter back down on the sofa.

"Nope," she shrugged.

"Weird." Bending down he looked at the name on the package and was even more confused, "it's addressed to Heidi."

"What?"

"For me?!" the little girl asked, sitting up from where she had been laid down and peering at him from over the top of the couch, an excited expression on her face. Apparently, she wasn't tired any more. "Did someone send a present?!" she gasped, almost vibrating with anticipation, causing both her parents to laugh at her.

"Seems so. But we have to open it properly and get rid of the packaging before you can have whatever's inside."

"Heidi, you stay here and play with you doll for a minute, we'll be back in a second," Regina quipped, watching as Robin brought the parcel inside and cut it open before carefully pouring out its contents, going about it in the way everyone had been advised to. When he had completed that, they looked at the array of different objects and the printed note that came with it.

_Dear Heidi,_

_Here are some fun gifts to keep you smiling._

_Love always._

_Granny and Grandpa Locksley_

"Aww! Your parents sent this," Regina smiled as she looked up at him.

Robin felt his heart warm at the gesture, he knew his mum was upset at not being able to see them during the quarantine except virtually on zoom, but she said it wasn't the same. He knew that she was missing snuggles with her granddaughter, but it was so thoughtful of her to send a parcel for the little girl.

Inside there were quite a few different things, packets of sweets and chocolates. A couple of dolls, a few puzzles, a colouring book and a soft octopus plush. There were also essentials which he guessed were more for him and Regina than the little girl, some hand soap, wipes and even some more expensive chocolate, one that his mother knew was Regina's favourite. Then, at the very bottom of the pile there was a DVD, definitely meant for Heidi, but he was sure Regina would be just as excited.

"Can I come look daddy?" Heidi asked, peering over the sofa again.

"Come on then," he grinned, watching the way she slid of the chair before hurrying over to them as quick as her little legs would carry her. "Do you know who the present is from?" he asked as she deposited herself on his lap, looking at the pile excitedly.

"Who?"

"Granny and Grandpa."

"Really? They were locked up."

"Locked up?"

"Yes, you and mommy said. Granny and Grandpa are locked up, and Grandma and Grandad," she sighed sadly. "That's why we can't see them no more. Nor Auntie Zeze and Auntie Al."

"Well, they just have to stay at their own houses don't they, they aren't locked up really."

"So they're not in the dungeon?" she asked, a smile starting to come back on her face, "I thought they were in the dungeon."

"No they're not in the dungeon," Regina chuckled, "they're just at home."

"Then why can't we go see them? Come on! We can go now!" she beamed, standing from her father's lap to move towards the door, only to be caught by her mother who sat her back down.

"We can't go and see them, because we aren't really supposed to go outside. No one is."

"Never?"

"Just for a little while, you see, it keeps everyone safe if they stay at home," Regina quipped.

Robin didn't really have any idea how to describe it to a little girl, she just wanted to see her grandparents and it was heart-breaking really, especially when she was so close to them, but it wouldn't be forever, just until the pandemic was over. "That's right, but we can still see them on the computer can't we and talk to them all."

"Yes, but no hugs," Heidi sighed, looking down at the floor, "I miss hugging them."

"Ah, but you have us to hug you. Don't you like our hugs?" Regina pouted playfully as she tried to hug her daughter.

"Yes! Of course," she nodded, wrapping her little arms around her mother, "I love your hugs the most."

"What about Daddy? Does he get hugs?" Regina asked, pulling back a little.

"Uh huh," the girl nodded before sliding off her mother's lap and moving back over to hug Robin.

"So, since Granny isn't here, she sent you all of these things, isn't that cool?"

"Yep."

"Do you want to see what you got?"

She looked at the items in front of her, grabbing the little octopus and holding it close, its fluffy tentacles wrapping around her hand. "He's cute."

"Yeah he is isn't he," Regina agreed glancing over at Robin with a smile on her face.

"Anna and Elsa!" Heidi squealed as she looked at the dolls Robin had already removed from the packaging, his mother knew that Heidi didn't have the dolls and that she was a massive fan of Frozen, just like virtually every other little girl in the world. "Look how pretty," she clutched them close as well until her eyes fell on the DVD and she stood up, staring at her mother, "WE HAVE FROZEN 2!"

"Oh my goodness!" Regina laughed, they watched as their daughter picked up the dvd and ran towards the sitting room excitedly.

"Well, I guess that's my cue to go back in the studio, she's never going to go down for a nap now."

"That is very true unfortunately."

"You go watch it, we can tidy up the picnic things later," he grinned, standing from the ground and pulling her closer, his lips brushing over hers gently.

"Hopefully you can save enough energy for us to have some alone time tonight," she whispered, "I think there might be a bubble bath with our name on it later."

"Well, I'll look forward to it."

"Me too." She leant in again offering him another kiss, one hand running down his side to pinch his ass playfully, "have fun in the studio and try not to let thinking about tonight distract you too much."

"It already is," Robin groaned, resting his forehead against hers.

"Mommy come on, we have to watch Frozen 2," Heidi called, making them both chuckle.

"Oh the joys of having children," Robin smirked, "right, go watch you movie and I'll see you both later." He pressed his lips to the side of her head before moving over to give Heidi a little hug, "be a good girl for your mommy."

"I'm always good," she beamed. In the time they had been talking she had made herself comfortable, with a lot of pillows piled up and a little space he assumed was for Regina free beside her. "Bye daddy."

"Bye," he laughed, heading out of the room just as the music from the television started playing, signalling the beginning of the film. He wondered just how long it would take his girls to watch every single Disney film in existence? He was sure they would give it a good go, as for now he was excited to get back to work, he'd just had some fresh inspiration.


	17. Cupcakes

Regina fastened her daughter's apron, which was adorned with little apples and perfectly matched her own. Heidi's hair was tied up in the same messy bun style, something the girl has insisted upon when she had woken up that morning. Regina had promised her that they could do some baking that day and Heidi had said that she wanted to drop some buns off for her grandparents even though they couldn't give them hugs just yet.

"What flavour do you want to make?" Regina asked as she lifted the girl onto a little safety stool so that she could reach the counter. It was safe for her to use as it boxed her in so that she couldn't fall, Heidi loved baking and Caroline had bought the piece of furniture for them so that she could help out in the kitchen.

"Chocolate!"

"Of course."

"Mommy's favourite."

"Definitely mommy's favourite and Heidi's."

"Yep," she grinned, licking her lips. She had already washed her hands at the sink and was holding them out in front of her, knowing not to put them near her mouth or touch anything but the bakery equipment. "Grandma like vanilla."

"Maybe we'll have to make a couple of vanilla ones as well then," Regina quipped. She knew that Heidi was talking about her mother, Cora preferred vanilla to chocolate as did Zelena, Regina was more like her father in that respect opting for chocolate and it seemed her daughter had taken after her too.

"One for auntie Zeze," Heidi hummed, "and one to Daddy."

"I think Daddy will probably pinch more than one," Regina chuckled, moving over to wash her own hands before returning to her daughter's side, "okay then Heidi, do you remember what we need to do first?"

"Yep," she nodded, "sugar."

Regina grinned, they'd made cupcakes quite a few times and it always made her smile when her daughter remembered exactly what they needed to do, at three she was extremely clever. It had taken Regina much longer to remember how to make buns and she was twenty-two. "That's right, we weigh out the sugar, two hundred grams." She placed the scales on the counter and took hold of the sugar, allowing her daughter to hold onto it too as they carefully poured it together, watching as the number on the scales went. "And stop. Now what?"

"Now, butter."

"Very good." They carried on this way, measuring out all the ingredients and mixing them, once they were all in, Regina allowed Heidi to mix it a little. She knew that her daughter was very cautious when it came to baking, she knew about germs and now especially it was important that she didn't put her hands in her mouth until after they had finished. "Give it a good mix Heidi."

"Stirring it up good mommy," she beamed, whisking it all as quickly as her little arm could, beating the mixture around the bowl. Whilst she was busy doing that, Regina grabbed the mixture she had put aside to make her mother's and Zelena's cupcakes as they didn't have the coca powdered and chocolate added in. Carefully she moved it into the bun cases then checked how Heidi was getting on with the chocolate ones.

"Oh wow, look at that! That looks so good baby," she hummed, pressing a light kiss to the girl's temple, "so now we need to…"

"Put in the cases," Heidi grinned, grabbing some of the cases that were covered in little hearts, "put here first," she instructed, dropping the cases into the muffin tray which would support them as they rose. They spooned in the mixture together, filling the cases one by one. "Perfect."

"Yes, they are perfect. How about I put them in the oven and you can lick the spoon?"

Blue eyes doubled in size as she nodded vigorously as she took hold of the spoon and ran her tongue over it, a little hum escaping her lips as she worked on cleaning it off. Regina put the cakes into the oven and worked on clearing everything else up, looking back at her daughter now and then to see her still working on liking off as much cake batter as she could get her mouth around.

"What?! How come little madam here got to lick the spoon?"

A grin formed on her face as she turned to see Robin stood playfully teasing their daughter, he had smudges of paint across his face and hands and was currently threatening to wipe a blob of yellow on their little girl's nose.

"That's usually my job."

"Mommy let me," she giggled hysterically, holding the spoon in one hand and fending off her daddy's paint-covered hand with the other. "Don't get messy daddy! We baking, you dirty!"

"Aww, but I wanted a cuddle from my baby girl."

"Not now," Heidi shook her head, her messy bun wobbling on top, "after, no germs."

"What about my other favourite girl, surely, she has a cuddle for me?" he asked, looking over at Regina with a wink.

"I don't think so as Heidi said, we need to keep clean, which means you need to get out, shoo. Don't come in here trying to steal Heidi's spoon."

"Yes! This my spoon," she grinned, licking it again a wicked little smile forming on her lips making Regina giggle, she could tell that she was taunting Robin that she had it and he didn't.

Robin scoffed and shook his head, "I can't believe my own daughter won't even share with her daddy." Regina watched as his bottom lip began to wobble and he pretended to cry.

Heidi stopped mid lick and looked at him, thinking for a minute before releasing a little sigh, "daddy have icing spoon?" she asked, looking up at Regina in question. She knew that they did the icing next which of course meant more spoons to lick, that one was always her daughter's favourite one. "Daddy have icing spoon?" she turned her gaze to Robin then, checking to see if that had made him happy.

"Thank you, sweetheart, we can share."

"Yes, share," she nodded, looking happy with his answer before she licked the very last bit of cake mix from the spoon and handed it to her mother, "all gone." Her face was covered in it, the chocolate mixture had coated her mouth, chin and cheeks.

"Well, we better wash up again before we work on the icing."

"Yes! Get rid of germs."

"Hmm," she nodded, lifting her out of the steps and moving over to the sink to wash her hands and face, making sure she was as clean as possible before moving her back to her original place.

"Well, I suppose I'll leave you, girls, to it, it looks as though you have everything under control," Robin smiled, "it smells amazing in here."

"How's it going?" Regina asked as she got the butter from the fridge to make the frosting. He was working on a collection for one of Sydney Glass's galleries in New York, the man wanted him to have a show there, post lockdown of course, luckily that had given Robin much more time to complete his work, instead of the exhibition being held in August, it was to be scheduled for December. They just prayed that everything would be back to at least some form of normal by then, it meant a lot of money coming in if the show went ahead.

"It's going, slowly but surely," he sighed, "I'd rather have my beautiful model sit for me than have to work from a photo."

"Ah well, your beautiful model is busy making cupcakes and watching over your daughter."

"I was talking about Heidi but… oww!" Regina whacked him with the tea towel and he chuckled, "I'm joking," he held his hands up in surrender, "I'm actually working on one of you riding a dragon."

"Oh, did the dragon sit for you too? Oh wait, he must be social distancing and in lockdown," she smiled.

"Dragon locked down too?" Heidi asked, looking over at them from where Regina had placed her on her stool, "he not fly, see his friends? He is sad too."

"Aww Heidi, don't be sad," Robin sighed moving closer to brush his nose against hers, "you've got mommy and me here to give you so many cuddles."

"I think she just misses her grandparents," Regina murmured. It was hard explaining to a three-year-old why she couldn't go and see her grandparents when they were used to visiting them almost every day. Not seeing them was hard on all of them, she missed her parent's just as much as Heidi did. "But, that's why we are going to take them some cupcakes isn't it Heidi? To make sure that they are happy."

"Yes, vanilla for grandma," a small smile reappeared on her face as she said that, her eyes falling to Robin, "dragon really locked down?"

"No sweetheart, don't worry about him, he has magic powers and will be just fine," he grinned, pulling away from them and reaching for a glass to fill with water. "But I better be getting back into the studio and hopefully have another section done by tonight."

"Well, good luck, we might pop out this afternoon to take the cakes to our parents," Regina informed him, looking in the oven to check up on the cakes which had risen and were ready to be taken out before being left to cool.

"Okay, pop your head around the door and let me know when you're going out."

"Will do," she nodded. He pressed his lips to hers gently before kissing the top of Heidi's head and leaving them to it.

"Hard bit," Heidi murmured as she held the piping bag, her pink tongue posting out as she carefully tried to ice the bun, forming a lopsided swirl on top.

Heidi did a couple whilst Regina managed the rest, she remembered a time when she hadn't been able to do anything close to what she could now. Caroline had taught her everything she knew, so with her working at the bakery during the day, she could now make just about any sweet dessert there was to perfection. Which meant that she iced the nine cakes she had before Heidi had even finished one. Whilst The little girl did that Regina moved over to grab the rainbow sprinkles and edible paper flowers.

"How are you getting on darling?" Regina asked, watched as the girl finished off her second one. They looked a little wonky but she was proud of them nonetheless, "wow! Amazing job baby girl!"

"They look good!" She beamed with satisfaction as she ever so gently picked up her final cupcake. Regina watched as she slowly applied the icing, following the line around in swirls to the centre just as her mother taught her, she knew she had a future baker on her hands. "Now sprinkles!"

"Oh, you wanted sprinkles?"

"Yes!" She nodded excitedly, looking over to where Regina had put them, "come on mommy."

"The rainbow ones?"

"Yesss!"

"You sure you don't want plain ones?" Regina giggled, teasing her daughter, knowing full well that the girl wanted the colourful ones," or chocolate."

"Rainbow please," she hummed, rocking happily on the steps, her hand outstretched waiting for her mother to hand her what she wanted. "Pretty ones."

"They are aren't they," Regina handed the tube to the little girl, allowing her to put them on top of all the cupcakes. She carefully dropped a few into her hand and slowly allowed them to fall onto the icing, sticking in place. Once each cake had an even covering of the coloured strands, she picked up the paper flowers and gently topped each bun with one of them before looking up at her mother in pride.

"Look! Like yours mommy! At the bakeshop."

She grinned as she slipped her hand into her pocket to retrieve her phone, she wanted to capture the moment. "Hey Heidi, give me a smile then."

Her daughter did exactly that, showing off her little white milk teeth as she grinned for the camera, one cupcake in her hands, clearly, the one she had chosen for herself, though Regina was proven wrong when the girl spoke up.

"Can I give to daddy?" She asked innocently and the older woman lifted her from the steps and placed her on the ground, "give him spoon too."

"Oh yes, can't forget that can we," Regina chuckled, taking the icing coated spoon from the bowl and handing it to her daughter. "You go find daddy whilst I clean up in here okay?"

"Okay," she nodded, trotting off to go see her father in his studio, leaving Regina to pack up the cakes in separate containers depending on who they would be delivered to before cleaning up the last of the mess.

Robin was working on Regina's nose, using shading to make it realistic, sculpting it to look just right, as he went to clean off his brush there was a little knock at the door of his studio. He dropped the brush into the water and stood from his chair, wiping his hands on his painting shirt before moving over to answer. He peeked out, finding no one there and he knew full well that someone was playing a trick on him. This was confirmed when he heard soft giggling coming from behind one of the tall house plants they hand down the landing.

Regina wasn't short enough to hide behind it so he knew exactly who it was, "oh is there no one at the door? I thought I might have had a little visitor. What a shame." She remained quiet except from the little snorts she made from trying to keep her laughter in. "Maybe I'll just have to go back into the studio and keep my door closed. Especially since my little girl doesn't want to come and visit me."

Slowly he walked towards the plant, seeing that she was sat on the ground with a cupcake in one hand and a spoon coated in frosting in the other, her eyes closed and a grin on her face.

"Yes definitely will have to do that," he sighed before leaning down and grabbing her around the waist and hoisting her into the air making her squeal with laughter.

"Daddy! How you find me?!" She asked as he held her close, very aware of the messy items in her hands and how fuming Regina would be should some chocolate icing get on her cream carpet.

"Quite easily," he chuckled pressing a kiss to her cheek as he addressed the items in her hands, "wow! Did you make that cake baby?"

"Yep! This one for daddy," she beamed, "lello flower for you."

"A yellow flower?" She was just so adorable, the way she said yellow always made him and Regina smile, she was too cute for words.

"Uh-huh," Heidi nodded, "can see painting?"

"Of course, you can," he grinned, bouncing her on his shoulder as he carried her into his studio so that she could get a sneak peek at the painting he was creating of her mother.

"Wow! Mommy looks pretty!"

"Mommy is pretty isn't she."

"Bootifulliest."

"Yeah she's the most beautiful woman in the world," he agreed, "apart from you of course miss Heidi."

"Spoon for you," she smiled, holding up the spoon she had promised him earlier.

"Oh, thank you." He gently placed her back on the ground before taking the spoon from her and licking off some of the frosting, just as he finished doing that Regina appeared in the doorway.

"Well hello, there you two are. Heidi, shall we go get cleaned up then we can go drop off our cakes?"

"Yes!"

"Let's go then!" Regina chuckled moving closer to get a little peek at the painting Robin was working on, "stunning," she smiled, her fingers curling around the collar of his shirt so she could pull him towards her and press her lips to his. "We'll see you when we get home."

"Have fun, I'll miss you both."

* * *

Half an hour later they arrived outside Robin's parent's house, his childhood home. It had bee around eight weeks since they had properly seen them, they had been video calling and talking on the phone. Heidi hadn't been able to cuddle her grandparents in such a long time and there didn't seem to be an end in sight, there was no indication as to when they would be able to give everyone a tight hug.

"Remember sweetie, we can't hug nanna, as much as we might want to, we have to wait until its safe."

"Uh-huh, cos of germs," Heidi nodded, her hand wrapped up in her mother's as Regina placed the tupperware with the cakes for Caroline and James on the doorstep, she rang the bell before they backed away from the door, standing a safe distance away. It wasn't long before the door opened and Robin's father answered.

"If it isn't my favourite granddaughter!"

"Grandpa! You've been locked up!"

"I know, I have haven't I sweetie," he chuckled, Regina smiled seeing how excited her daughter was just to see them, even though she couldn't touch them or be any closer than the two meters which were required from them. "We missed you so much, all of you. Is Robin not with you?"

"He's working on his painting and was in the flow, he said that he would give you guys a call later," Regina quipped.

The older man nodded before turning back to the house and shouting out for his wife, "Caroline, there's someone at the door."

"Well you're answering it, why do I need to… my babies!" the blonde emerged, having to stop herself from moving too close. Regina knew that Robin's mother saw her as a daughter and treated her as such, sure she wasn't a baby, but she didn't mind, she loved that Caroline cared about them so much, she just knew how much the woman loved them and she loved her too, she loved both of Robin's parents, even before Heidi they had been like a second set of parents to her.

"Nana!" Heidi squealed, waving frantically at the woman she was used to seeing every day before the lockdown had started, "we can't hug, cos of germs," she said solemnly before remembering something, "but made cake! For you," the girl hummed, pointing to the tupperware.

"You made us some cakes?"

"Uh-huh! We clean, no germs."

"Yes, you were very clean weren't you Heidi," Regina chuckled, looking down at her daughter who was rocking on her heels, clearly happy to see her grandmother even though she couldn't go any nearer than the bottom step. "We were all missing you and Heidi thought that this might be a good idea."

"Well it was a wonderful idea, thank you, sweetheart. I have missed seeing your pretty faces in person," she sighed, perching on the bench that sat upon the small porch beside the door. "I was actually going to ring you later darling; I've had a couple of phone calls about birthday cakes, people are wanting them but obviously the bakery is closed. I've looked into it and it seems that we can open for delivery, of course, it wouldn't much be worth it for normal pastries, but I thought maybe we could do a few cake orders, bring in at least a little bit of money whilst we're closed."

Regina nodded, they often had to make birthday cakes and she had been practising on her sculpting work, though she was best at the simpler designs, leaving Caroline to make the complicated requests. "That sounds like a good idea."

"Of course, we'll have to take all of the necessary hygiene precautions. We'll only be taking a certain amount of orders a week and allowing them to pay online. I just wanted to check with you if you'd be okay completing a couple of the orders, we already have around five or so to complete for next week."

"Yes, I can manage that, Robin can watch Heidi, she can paint with him in the studio. How's that sound baby? You can go paint with daddy?"

"Okay," she smiled, sitting down on the grass as she ran her fingers over one of the pink flowers Caroline had planted, making sure to be gentle as she did, not wanting to damage it.

"Thank you, Regina, it would be a massive help."

"You're more than welcome."

"You can drop by the bakery and grab some supplies or you could even just use to ovens there, that might be best. There are disinfectants and sanitizers there already, also we have all the equipment, I think I shall be using my own kitchen so that will be free. You'll also get a little time to yourself, to be honest, I'm a little jealous James has been driving me crazy," she chuckled, gaining a disgruntled murmur from her husband.

"Robin is in the studio most of the time anyway, so its normally just me a Heidi," Regina grinned, sitting down beside her daughter.

They stayed there for a short while, just talking before Regina and Heidi stood up again and continued on their walk, heading towards the Mills residence this time, probably for a similar interaction with her own parents. The moment they walked through the gate Heidi hurried off towards the little wooden playhouse that Regina's father built for her in the garden, it had little tea sets, fake food and other things inside and Heidi loved it.

Regina made sure that the gate was closed and moved up the path towards the front door. She knocked gently and placed the box with the cakes in down on the doorstep before moving away and waiting for someone to answer. It was a moment before a head of red hair was visible through the glass panels and the door opened to reveal her sister looking somewhat dishevelled with red-rimmed eyes.

Regina's smile immediately dropped as she looked at her, "Zelena?" It was clear that the older woman had been crying, quite a bit if her eyes were any indication and it was concerning. "What's happened?"

"It's nothing," she sniffed, wiping her eyes on the sleeve of her shirt.

"It's clearly something."

She could see that her sister was reluctant to tell her, and just asking the question had made her even more upset, even if she was trying to hide it. Zelena took a deep breath and moved to sit on the swing seat that sat on the porch whilst Regina stayed at on the steps. The redhead looked up and met her eyes and Regina knew there was something seriously wrong.

"Alex just phoned me from the hospital, she got a call saying that her mom might have the virus," she whispered, "she's been taken to the ER with breathing problems. They've tested her but don't have the results yet, she's on oxygen at the minute and they're monitoring her. They said that she was too weak to even really talk."

"Is this just all of a sudden, was she having symptoms?"

"When Alex phoned her a couple of days ago, she said she had a cold and that's all. Al had been worried about her, she texted her last night and there wasn't a response. Then she got the phone call."

Regina sighed and shook her head, Frankie was still living in California and they had many more cases there than they had in Maine, mostly because it was more heavily populated. Frankie was in her late sixties, she had been older when she'd adopted Alex, but Regina knew she was normally healthy. "Is Alex coming home then?"

"No, she's still on shift for a few more hours. She broke down on the phone, someone from the hospital on the west coast called her to inform her about Frankie."

"Oh no." The older woman had many friends who lived nearby, but of course, Alex lived at the opposite end of the country and at the current moment wouldn't be able to go to her side. Regina daren't imagine how that must feel if it was her mother who was sick and she was unable to be with her. She wanted to hug her sister, but she couldn't, she couldn't even touch her to comfort her. "I'm so sorry Zelena, let's just hope that she pulls through this."

"She has to Gina, she… Alex, she's the only family Alex had growing up, I know that she's found Emma now, and she has us, but it isn't the same."

"I know, it's awful. You just feel powerless, like there isn't anything you can do to help."

"Auntie Zeze! We bring cake! Vanilla for you!" Heidi cheered as she appeared from the playhouse, completely oblivious to the conversation between the two women, that was until she looked at her aunty, her smile fell as she cocked her head, "why sad?"

"I'm okay sweetie, just a little tired," Zelena lied, how could a three-year-old understand the truth anyway? Heidi would have no idea what to make of it, it was best to not let her know, after all, she had only met Frankie a handful of times.

"Oh, should nap. Like I do," she shrugged, making Zelena laugh softly. Regina could tell that she was desperate to give Heidi a hug and it was hurting her not to reach out and pull her into her arms.

"Maybe I will have a nap a little later."

"Heidi, Regina," Cora greeted as she emerged in the doorway. Regina didn't think she had ever seen her look so casual; her school was closed which meant that she wasn't in work, she was doing all of her paperwork from home. Her dark hair was in the same style as both Heidi's and Regina's, secured on the top of her head, as for her clothes, she was wearing a slouchy pair of jeans with a white button-up shirt.

"Grandma! We brought you vanilla," the little girl smiled.

"Heidi brought us some cupcakes," Zelena quipped, gesturing to the box which she had picked up from the floor. "She made vanilla ones especially for us."

"Did you, well that was very thoughtful of you Heidi. I will certainly enjoy that after dinner later. Thank you."

"Welcome."

With that Heidi skipped off, heading to the playhouse and leaving the adults to talk. "Where's Daddy?" Regina asked as she looked between her sister and mother.

"Oh, he's working on a project in the back yard, forming gardening boxes with vegetable and such."

"Busy then I bet."

"He's been out there the past five days or so," Zelena chuckled, though it was a solemn laugh, Regina could tell that she was still thinking about Frankie and wanting to be there for Alex instead of at home worrying about her. She wished her mother would go and give her a hug, since they were living in the same household she was allowed to, but Cora, despite having gotten better at it over the years, could often not realise when someone needed emotional support.

"He'll be getting green fingers."

"Why grandad get green fingers?" Heidi asked, popping back up once again, cocking her head as she looked at her mother in confusion.

"It's just a saying sweetheart when people like to garden," Regina laughed, the other two women smiling also.

"I want to see! If he got green fingers," she giggled, hurrying towards one of the bushes which separated the back yard from the front, moving over to the gate and laying on the floor so she could peer underneath. "Hellooo!" she called out, reaching underneath, "grandad!"

"Well, has a little garden fairy come to pay me a visit?" his voice sounded from the other side of the bushes, interacting with his little granddaughter from a distance.

* * *

After a while, Regina could tell that Heidi was getting a little tired and they still had to walk home, so they bid farewell to her family. She asked Zelena to give Alex and Frankie her love before they headed back towards their own house. Heidi's hand was tightly wrapped in hers as they walked through the town. All of the shops and restaurants were closed, the windows of Granny's diner were blacked out and it was strange, almost like a ghost town.

Regina sighed as she looked down at her little girl, times were scary and unpredictable, they still had no idea to what scale this virus could spread. Until then though, she knew that they had to just keep on following the rules and stay safe.

By the time they got home, the sun was just beginning to drop down in the sky, yet it seemed that the lights were off. Regina furrowed her eyebrows as she dropped her keys onto the side table, it was strange that Robin was still working in the studio at this time, she would have thought that he'd have cleaned up already and maybe it was wishful thinking to hope he had started on dinner.

With a sigh she lifted Heidi onto her hip and carried her upstairs, "shall we go get ready for bed and then come down for some supper?"

"Uh-huh," she nodded tiredly, "where daddy?"

"He must still be painting baby," she sighed, moving into the bathroom and running the water in the tub. After giving Heidi a quick bath and getting her into her pyjamas, they both headed back downstairs again. The bath seemed to have woken her up a little and made her less sleepy which meant that at least she wouldn't be falling asleep in her food as had happened a couple of times before.

"Maybe daddy asleep."

"I don't think he knows what time it is honey," Regina quipped as they walked towards his studio, however, they stopped in their tracks when they looked out the patio doors and into the garden. Regina's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open in shock, "oh."

"Wow!" Heidi gasped as she rushed outside without even putting anything on her feet.

Regina simply stood there staring, not quite believing what she was seeing. There was a tent in the garden with fairy lights strung all around, as well as a white sheet strung up on the fence with a projector shining onto it. A smile formed on her face as she slipped some shoes on and followed her daughter, finding Robin inside the tent with a little picnic dinner set up at the opening and inside there were sleeping bags and blankets. It was a perfect little fort and somehow he had managed to keep it a secret from the both of them.

"Robin!"

"Surprise," he grinned, offering her his hand and helping her sit down with them. Heidi was already munching on a carrot stick, murmuring about how cool it was.

"Why are you just the best father ever?" she hummed, leaning her forehead against his as they both watched their daughter. "I love you so much."

"Love you too. So much in fact, that I am willing to put myself through as many Disney movies as you want."

She pressed her lips to his softly before pulling back and picking up the princess plate that was in front of her, filling it with an array of foods from his little selection. He was always doing cute things like this for them, surprising them, it made him happy to do so and in turn, made them happy. He was wonderful and Regina knew that she couldn't have wished for a better partner, he was always so thoughtful and considerate and she loved him more than life itself.

"So Heidi, what film do you want to watch?" Robin asked as he went on his laptop which was connected to the projector.

"You choose daddy," she smiled, carefully picking up some apple segments and placing them on her plate, before reaching for some less healthy snacks.

"Me?"

"Uh-huh, your turn," she nodded.

"Well, okay then, how about Lilo and Stitch."

"Yes! Good!" Heidi giggled.

Regina grinned as she snuggled up to Robin and the movie began. It seemed that amongst all the unrest in the world they had found their little bubble of peace and hope.

**Author's Note:**

> I merged a collection of chapters from FF.net together to make this into one longer chapter, I felt that these kind of work as one instead of how many they had been split into. Thanks for reading! ❤️


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